The Hunter and The Prey
by RedNovember
Summary: [ZK] The Prince of the Fire Nation will do anything to find the legendary Avatar, but what if the bait he captures to lure the Avatar decides to fight back and gains his attention in more ways than one? My take on an overused plotline. [COMPLETED]
1. Chapter 1: Caught

**Title:** The Hunter and The Prey  
**Category:** Avatar: Last Airbender  
**Author: **RedNovember  
**Chapter: **1  
**Genre:** Romance/Action  
**Pairing:** Zuko/Katara  
**Rating:** T (PG-13) for now, but if I have to up it to M (or R) I will.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of this series. However, the fanfiction written, the plot contained and any original characters I write I do own.

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**Chapter 1: Caught**

Katara sighed as she slowly slipped into the hot springs, a bit of water bubbling over the edge as she sank in up to her shoulders. It had been a tiring week to say the least. Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation had kept them busy running from him and his soldiers. It seemed like every time Katara, Sokka, and Aang were able to sit down on solid ground, build a campfire, sleep, and give Appa a rest from all the flying they had been doing, Prince Zuko and his army were right around the corner, waiting for them. They'd had a couple of narrow scrapes and had almost been captured several times.

They had flown for two straight days before Appa was about to give out from lack of sleep. They decided to touch down on one of the larger of the numerous islands dotting the ocean underneath them, one with a perfect natural hot spring great for easing tired muscles. The island they'd stopped at was bigger than most of the tiny rocks poking out from the water, but it did not have any human settlements. Large enough to put off a whole-island search from the Fire Benders if they found the group (it would take several days to search an island of this size), but small enough that nobody else had thought to live here.

Katara had claimed a hot bath first, much to the annoyance of Sokka, her older brother. Aang had been okay with it. He was an all-around nice kid, and put up with anything Katara dished out. She knew she could be extremely mean and jealous of Aang's abilities sometimes, and she tried to keep her envy and whining in check. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't.

Before she'd completely jumped into the bath, she'd made sure Sokka kept on eye on the surrounding area.

"I want you to keep watch, okay?" She asked him, gathering her extra robe.

"What _for_? There's no one else on this tiny island except for us and Aang!" He said, rolling his eyes.

"Exactly." She gave him a look and disappeared behind a tree to undress.

"You're scared of Aang looking? He's 12 years old, for crying out loud. I bet he hasn't even hit puberty yet." Sokka continued to whine, scuffing his foot in the dirt around the tree, but Katara knew it was just an act, and he would watch out for her. He was her big brother, after all.

"Well, you never know. Plus, every time we've stopped for a rest this past week, the FireBenders have caught up with us."

Sokka had to agree his sister was right. "Fine. I'll watch." He turned around, crossing his arms over his chest as she slipped into the hot springs.

"And don't you dare look either."

"Sick." He muttered, brushing some dirt off his boomerang. "Like you have anything to show anyways."

Katara decided to let the comment slide and focused on enjoying her well-deserved bath.

A half hour later she was out and it was Sokka's turn. He said he didn't need anybody to watch out for him, since he was so big and tough and manly, Katara walked back to the beach where Aang had already set up camp.

"Is Appa okay?" She asked Aang, who was sitting by the fire, adding more sticks to it.

"Yeah. He just needs a little rest."

"Well hopefully we'll be able to stay here for the whole night."

Aang looked up and scanned the surroundings again with his large, clear eyes. "Well I haven't seen any other activity here other than us, so maybe we're farther ahead of the Fire Benders than we thought."

Katara shrugged and rolled out her sleeping bag. It would be good to sleep on something solid, instead of something alive and moving and flying hundreds of feet above the ground for a change. "I'm going to turn in early, okay?"

"'Kay" was the simple answer from Aang.

Later Katara heard her brother coming back from the hot springs and ask Aang if he wanted a turn. Aang left for his bath, and she heard Sokka settle on the ground next to her.

Katara didn't know when Aang came back, because next time she awoke the moon was high in the black sky and everything was quiet except for the occasional snore from Sokka and shifting in sleep from Aang or MoMo.

She soon learned why she woke up, as her bladder began to protest loudly. Quickly shrugging on her large blue Eskimo-style coat, she decided to dart into the trees for some quick relief before coming back and snuggling into her warm sleeping bag again. It wasn't a cold night, just slightly chilly.

Katara stopped at the first tree, but on second thought, decided to go on further into the forest. She didn't want the two boys waking up tomorrow morning and discovering the remains of her nightly trip, and she was too tired to properly dig a hole and bury her remains with her bare hands.

She quickly ran further into the forest before picking a nice spot a bit further than the hot springs to do her business.

As soon as she was done, she turned around to walk back to their campsite, but a light in the distance caught her eyes. This was strange. Before landing, all three had checked the island from overhead for sites of human settlement. Nothing had showed.

It couldn't be… no. Katara felt a wave of fear and disappointment wash over her. It must be the Fire Benders! And Appa hadn't even rested properly yet. How could they get away this time?

Before panicking, she followed the light closer to the source, or sources. She didn't want to make an undue fuss by waking up the boys if it was only a reflection off a small stream or something. The walk was a bit longer than she had thought, the dark of the night confusing her distance perception. It took upwards of fifteen minutes to reach a good vantage point. By the time she had gotten close enough to find out that yes, the lights were from fire torches, she was panting and tired and unfocused.

Suddenly she tripped over a tree root, crashing down hard on her elbows and let out a cry of pain ("SHIT!") before she clapped a hand over her mouth and cursed again. She scrambled around quickly, knowing she'd alerted the enemy but wishing against all odds that they hadn't heard.

Sudden shouts and gestures and flickering of torchlight let the Water Bender know her wish had not been granted.

She untangled her foot from the roots, and leaping up from the ground, took off at a dead run for the campsite. She could hear them crashing through the underbrush behind her, but couldn't tell whether they were gaining on her or losing her. She hoped it was the second one.

"Get her!" Ordered a familiar-sounding voice, filled with demand and arrogance and a bit of frustration.

The soldiers chasing her (was Prince Zuko with them too?) had been sailing on a ship all day, and were fully rested. Katara, on the other hand, had been traipsing about in the woods for awhile. She was tired and knew she couldn't keep up her speed for long.

Halfway to their campsite, she realized that she was leading the Fire Benders right towards what they wanted: The Avatar. She was putting Aang and Sokka in direct danger. She started to make an immediate right toward an unknown part of the island, before realizing that if she made a sudden turn, the men chasing her would start to suspect that something had lain in her original path. Instead, she made gradual twists and turns until they were running well out of the direction of where the camp lay. She could feel the hunters slowly gaining on her, the prey.

After ten minutes of solid running, she was starting to stumble and cough hard, but pushed herself to keep going. Aside from running, she had no other substantial plan. Hiding? Unless she found a nice cave and could get there before the Fire Benders saw her, there was no escape.

Hacking and panting, she broke free from the woods and realized she was on the beach again. She stopped, twisting from side to side, and knew she couldn't go back in the forest, for the Fire Benders were there and would catch her.

_Stupid,_ she thought, _you're a water bender. Go IN to the water!_ She dashed in, splashing up to her waist in the icy cold water, and turned back around to face her enemies.

A whole group of them, at least a dozen men, crashed out of the forest not 5 seconds after her and with Prince Zuko in their lead.

"Well, well, well. Look what I've caught myself tonight." His intense gold eyes stared out from his scarred face and bore into her. Katara was determined not to break the eye contact first and show weakness, but after mere seconds (but what felt like a year) she couldn't take it any more and averted her eyes to stare at the waves lapping at the feet Fire Nation's Prince.

"You think your precious water will save you?" He smirked and laughed, before cutting off suddenly and glaring at her again, a sudden change that was frightening. "Let's see what you can do." He started to wade slowly into the water, closing in on her.

Katara focused on her trembling hands and sent a water-whip, the strongest she could summon at the advancing Prince. He evaporated it with a huge blast of heat from his hands and a look of concentration on his face. The power from the fire was so hot Katara felt the heat of it brush by her face.

On the edge of panic, Katara scanned the beach and noticed the guards were spread out in a line on the water's edge, preventing her from getting back on land. She was trapped. It had seemed like such a fine idea at the time, hiding in the sanctuary of water, her element, but she had not taken into account her weakened state. She was completely exhausted. If she could only get the guards out of her way. They could run faster on land than she could run or swim in water.

Weakly she raised her hands and tried to push and pull the water into a large wave that hopefully would tumble the guards over. It built up to an impressive height, and the guards began to back away cautiously. Prince Zuko turned and saw what was happening, and quickly turned back to face Katara and sent two large blasts on either side of her head. At the last moment, Katara lost the wave she'd built up in a flash of panic when she dodged the fire, and the wave crashed down until it became nothing again.

"It's getting late, and it's time to finish this." Prince Zuko summoned a large ball of fire between his two hands and unleashed it at Katara.

Using the last of her energy, she cried out and reflexively flung up a shield of ocean water before the attack. Prince Zuko was surprised, but not to be defeated. He continued, sending a continuous stream of fire at the wall, knowing Katara had to weaken sometime.

And she did. Slowly she felt her energy draining away, eaten up as the wall of water started to evaporate and lose it's height. She strained, trying to hold on, even thought she knew it was the end and she was cornered.

Katara cried out and the wall of water broke, as the fire hit her left hand and she screamed in pain, losing her balance and falling into the ocean water. She choked before stumbling back up in the waist-high water, cradling her arm as flashes of red hot pain shot through it.

Katara knew she'd lost. She was utterly exhausted, in pain, and defeated. She fell back into the water as a curtain of black over took her sight and the last thing she saw was the triumphant smile on Prince Zuko's face.

Seeing her fall back, the Fire Bender Prince waded quickly out to her and picked her up before she could drown in her own element, slinging the unconscious girl over his shoulder before wading back to his troops at the water's edge.

"We're done here for tonight. I'll take her back to the ship." He said tersely. "However, if she's here, it means the Avatar and her brother are also on the island. Search for them and don't stop until you find them."

"But Lord, this place is much too big to do a thorough search without taking more than a week to search the whole island!" One man, the captain of this group, raised the question.

"I don't _care_ how long it takes." Zuko snapped back, stepping closer to the captain. "Would you care to join the victims? You can be either the searched, or the searcher."

The captain stepped down quickly and nodded, gesturing for his group to follow him, and they disappeared into the forest.

Prince Zuko headed back towards his fleet of ships with the unconscious Katara over his shoulder. "And if we don't find them… there's always a backup plan." He muttered slowly to himself.

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**A/N: The usual, please review! I'd really love constructive comments. The second chapter will be out by the end of this week, if not earlier.**


	2. Chapter 2: The Tables Have Turned

**Category:** Avatar: The Last Airbender  
**Author:** RedNovember  
**Title: **The Hunter and The Prey  
**Pairing: **Zuko/Katara  
**Genre: **Romance/Action  
**Rating: **PG-13 (or T) for now (mild swearing) but if I have to up it to R (or M) I will.

**Chapter 2: The Tables Have Turned**

Upon arriving back at his ship, Zuko deposited Katara in an empty, sparsely furbished room on a small cot. He was about to drape the thin woolen blanket over her before noticing her wet robe. An uncomfortable question arose in his mind, but no facial expression betrayed his inner turmoil A prince could never allow his true emotions to show, even in the privacy of an empty room (Aside from an unconscious, captured Water Bender girl).

There were no women on board, apart from Katara now. Zuko didn't wholly trust his own guards not to try anything. That left himself. He moved towards the girl on the bed before drawing back and shifting from foot to foot. It was completely and utterly improper!

His eyes narrowed at himself. Where had this cowardly side of him come from? He was in the midst of a war, in the middle of a chase for the fabled Avatar, who could either help his nation conquer the world or destroy everything he, his father, and the people of the Fire Nation had built over a long period of warfare.

_Nothing_, he repeated to himself, _Nothing_ would stop him from achieving his goal. Definitely not a weak unconscious girl shivering on a cot and his own stupid ideas of "improperness".

He needed to find the avatar, and he would use this girl to find the last Airbender. He couldn't very well use the girl if she was dead or extremely sick from hypothermia and unable to give him any information.

Quickly, before he changed his mind, Zuko moved and untied the blue robe from her with a little shifting and pulling (thankfully she didn't wake up). To his relief, Katara was wearing a white shift between her outer blue robe and her underthings. However, this smaller white dress was also wet and turned slightly transparent. He quickly averted his eyes and decided she'd survive. He'd seen many things worse than a half-naked girl (for instance, dead people on the battlefield of war) but for God's sake he was a Prince! He wasn't meant to be undressing young women left and right.

Pulling the blanket over her, he took her blue robe and quickly exited the room and instructed the two guards outside to guard the room at all costs and not let anyone in except himself and the servant who would be sent to feed her and take care of other things. This girl was the key to finding the avatar and completing all of his future plans. He would make sure nothing would happen to her.

The Prince left, and if the guards noticed the girl's blue robe curled tightly in his right fist, they kept their ideas to themselves and said nothing.

Stepping off his ship and back onto the island, he noticed the original troop of soldiers he'd sent out to find the Avatar had returned empty-handed. They were panting and extremely tired. Before that annoying Captain who'd contradicted him the first time could use any sort of pitiful excuse, Prince Zuko held up a hand. He was only slightly disappointed. He hadn't really expected the small group of soldiers to find the Avatar and the girl's brother on this island. It was much to large for a small search party to comb completely. He instructed them to get back on the ship and rest. However, he had one more bit of business to complete.

Climbing up the sand dunes to the edge of the forest where the sand met the green undergrowth of the trees, he picked a stout tree and drew a fancy, but extremely sharp knife out from his belt sheath. Flipping it over and over in his left hand, he pondered the idea before deciding on the best course of action.

Throwing Katara's blue robe into the air, he drew his knife hand back and skillfully hurled the knife hilt-deep it into the tree trunk, effectively pinning the girl's clothes into the wood. He inspected his work, and knew the Avatar would understand his message. Turning, he went back to his ship and ordered his Captain to immediately set sail.

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When Katara finally awoke, she was cold, slightly damp, and she definitely needed to pee again. The temperature she could do nothing about. The damp she could. She noticed all she had left on were her underclothes and shift. Uncomfortable, she tried not to think about who had taken her outer robe, but hoped sincerely hoped it had been a woman. 

A brown-red tunic and black trousers hung over the back of a plain wooden chair nailed to the floor of the room she was in. Obviously she was on a ship, where heavy furniture was generally attached to the floor to prevent things from moving and crushing people in the midst of a storm or battle.

Escape was definitely foremost in her mind, but she couldn't go running about half-naked and not expect to draw attention to herself, now could she? She picked up the tunic and inspected it. There were no mysterious stains on it, and it smelled like it had been recently washed. It was a bit large in the shoulders and the waist, but the she rolled up her sleeves to free her hands. The bottom of the shirt hung to her mid-thighs, but she could do nothing about that. No belt was provided. The trousers were a bit long as well, and only slightly tighter at her hips (Nothing to _show_, eh, Sokka? She thought wryly in her mind). She rolled the pants up to her knees so she wouldn't trip.

Now about her bodily needs. She searched the room for a chamber pot of any kind. Not that there was much to search for in the first place. A cot, chair, pillow, and blanket were the only items in the room other than the clothing she was wearing. There wasn't even a window of any type, although she could sense the water lapping at one of the walls on one side. There were moving through the ocean, which meant they had left the island. She refused to think about the implications of this information, at least for now. The small room was beginning to make her feel claustrophobic, and she really needed to focus on other things before panicking..

She crossed to the door and started pounding on it. "Hello? Hey, is anybody out there?" She jiggled the knob, but of course it was locked.

Unbeknownst to Katara, the guards outside eyed each other uneasily. The Prince hadn't told them what to do in a situation if the girl woke up.

Katara was beginning to get annoyed, and, though she would never admit it, slightly panicked. They couldn't have just left her here on a ship by herself, could they? She pounded harder. "Hey! HEY! Somebody let me out of here!"

One guard eyed his partner, who had a queer thin moustache. "Maybe you should go get the prince?"

Thin Moustache nodded and left, eyeing the door uneasily. The girl's struggling had gotten even more frenzied.

"Hey! HEY YOU MORONS! I can hear you!" The presence of people reassured Katara, but also served to make her angry. Why wouldn't anybody answer her?

"Quiet down!" the remaining guard hissed, then regretted it. Hopefully he wouldn't get in trouble for talking to the prisoner. Prince Zuko had been very adamant about this girl's safety, and the punishments that would follow if anything should happen to her.

Thin Moustache was hurrying back down the narrow hallway with rope in his hands. "The Prince will be along in a minute. He wants us to tie her up with this first."

The two unlocked the door to see a young woman hurriedly backing away from them. "Who are _you_?" She'd expected Prince Zuko to come barging in.

Without a sword, they began to bind her hands together and tied her to the chair. She struggled at first, kicking and twisting, but knew it was helpless. There were two of them, full-grown men, bigger and stronger, against one of her, a teenager, smaller and weaker.

Their task finished, the soldiers backed away from her last kick just as Prince Zuko entered the room. The guards left at a signal from him, shutting the door quickly behind them.

The two left in the room eyed each other carefully, Katara from her bound position in her chair and Zoku looking down at her from his full height of 6'2". Their eyes locked again for the 2nd time before Katara looked away from those hatefully burning yellow eyes.

"Where is the Avatar?" He spoke simply.

"Don't ask stupid questions!" She shot back.

"Stupid questions, girl?" His eyes narrowed.

"You know I'd never tell you where my friends are," She said spitefully, turning her face arrogantly away from the Prince with a false show of bravado. Inside she was trembling. "Don't bother trying. You've probably already searched the island and not found him." If Zuko didn't know where Aang was, then she didn't know either, Katara realized with a sinking feeling. If they weren't on the island…were they looking for her? Or had they abandoned her? She pushed the thought from her mind. She had more pressing matters to deal with right now. For instance, the Prince.

In a flash he was right in front of her, fingers digging into her chin, forcing her to look him in the face. He studied her eyes carefully. She looked away. "You don't know where they are either." He said calmly, and released her. A sarcastic, mean-spirited smirk crossed his face. "Not that it matters anymore."

Katara refused to look at him. She focused instead on the wood of the floor. She couldn't help wondering if Zuko had given up his search for Aang, now that he had her. Wasn't that what he was implying, with this whole "not that it matters anymore" nonsense? He didn't think _she_ could be the Avatar, could he? Why wouldn't the Prince _want_ to know where Avatar was? Wasn't that the whole point of his little chase around the world?

Zuko stood up straight, his arms crossed in front of his chest. "I'm not going to be wasting my time chasing that puny excuse for an Avatar anymore."

Katara glanced up at him, keeping a glare on her own face, but desperately curious as to why he was saying these crazy, so un-Prince Zuko things!

His smirk widened, and he continue. "Oh no. For the first time in a long while, the Avatar will be the one chasing me."

Katara's eyes widened as the it dawned on her.

"And all because of the woman I now possess, who happens to be on my boat." Still with that cruel smirk on his face, he turned around and strode out of the room, locking it behind him with what sounded to him like a _very_ satisfying click.

Behind him, stilled tied in her chair, Katara understood what the evil bastard had been talking about. Somehow Aang knew she was with the Fire Benders now. And in hopes of rescuing her, he and her brother would follow Zuko's boat anywhere, all the way to the Fire Nation if necessary, which was probably what Zuko intended.

She let out a piercing scream of frustration.

In addition to her newfound predicament, she still hadn't been able to take a bathroom break.

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Back on shore, Aang and Sokka slowly woke up and realized the young woman who usually traveled with them was no longer there. After two hours of crashing through the forests, they came upon what Zuko had left behind on a tree. 

Fluttering slightly in the wind, Katara's blue, still-wet, grimy, dirt-covered and tattered robe was nailed securely to a tree. The sigil on the knife was that of a brilliant red flame curling around the hilt and up the wickedly shining blade.

"Fire Benders." Aang whispered.

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**A/N: This chapter came out a bit sooner than expected. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! I really do appreciate it. My plan with this story is to take things pretty slowly, actually. I don't really like OOC stories where Zuko turns out to be a big softie at heart. I think the two of them really need to fight and argue and figure somethings out before any kind of real relationship can began. But don't worry it won't take too long here. Haha I'm anxious to get to the good parts as well, but they still have a bit of shit to get through. However, I won't be writing any sort of lemon. Maybe something bordering on a bit of a lime, but I want to keep this T (or PG-13) as long as possible. Again, thanks for the reviews and keep them coming!**


	3. Chapter 3: The Fire Nation Fleet

**Category: **Avatar: Last Airbender  
**Author:** RedNovember  
**Title: **The Hunter and the Prey  
**Pairing: **Zuko/Katara  
**Genre: **Romance/Action  
**Rating: **T (PG-13) for now, but if I have to up it to M (or R) I will.  
**A/N: **This chapter was written to the melodious tunes of Gwen Stefani, the Black-Eyed Peas, Matchbox 20, Garbage, and several other inspirational artists. Plus a few traditional Disney songs. Thank you very much.  
**Disclaimer:** I realized I forgot this part in my earlier chapters. I do not own any part of this wonderful series. The fanfiction written, the plot contained and any original characters I might write (planning on a couple) I do own.

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**Chapter 3: The Fire Nation Fleet**

A full 30 minutes (but what felt like 10 days) after Zuko had left, Katara sat bound in her chair, shifting uncomfortably and hoping that for her next 10 birthdays, everyone would get her chambers pots, all sorts in all different sizes so she would never have to be without one.

A servant soon arrived accompanied by the two guards to release her and give her (Thank the heavens!) a chamber pot and a small tray of food. In truth, Katara was quite flattered that they had sent two soldiers along with the servant, for it meant that they thought of her as enough of a danger to spend manpower on protecting a lowly servant from her. Either that or they were trying to threaten her. She much preferred the first explanation.

After releasing her bladder, a much-relieved Katara ate her sparse dinner, comprised of regular bread, water, and one measly orange.

The dinner was the last of her entertainment. Beyond that, she had no idea what to do aside from the customary sleeping. The next time the servant arrived again to collect her chamber pot (poor man) and the remains of her dinner, she made a point to raise her voice loud enough that the guards outside would hear her.

"I _really_ need to see the Prince." She demanded, with an edge of a whine in her voice.

Mutterings ensued outside her door, and a gruff voice answered her. "His Majesty said you weren't to leave the room."

"But I _really_ need to talk to him. I have some vital information he needs to hear."

"…No."

She was growing desperate, desperate enough to stand seeing Zuko again just to get out of this stuffy room. "He'll be upset later if he finds out you wouldn't let me talk to him. He'll be pissed off that you kept some important information about the Avatar from him."

The guards certainly weren't stupid, but everybody had seen what happened the last time a soldier got in the way of Prince Zuko trying to capture the Avatar. No one had seen the poor soldier since. It was enough to plant suspicion and a bit of fear in any Fire soldier's heart.

After a bit more conversing, the two guards relented. Thin Moustache came inside and bound her hands behind her back. "Let's go." He muttered, shoving her forward so that she almost tripped. Katara bit back a curse, grateful she was just able to finally leave the room. The other guard joined them and pushed and prodded her up the stairs towards the bright daylight ahead. 

Reaching the main deck, Katara threw her head back and inhaled a deep breath of fresh ocean air. The deck was busy with sailors and soldiers moving about, preparing cargo, unraveling rope, and generally making a big fuss. The officers of the crew continually shouted at their subordinates, each trying to out shout the other for their orders to be heard. Apparently there was something going on. The Captain, recognizable by the three golden stripes on the shoulders of his uniform, was poring anxiously over a map laid out on a table. "We agreed to meet at this rendezvous point." The first mate jabbed at a spot on the map.

"I know that," the Captain snapped, snatching the map up and rolling it into a tube. "But I don't see the main fleet anywhere on the horizon."

Before Katara could catch anymore of this conversation, a hand descended on her shoulder and whirled her around to face an angry Prince Zuko.

"_What_ are you doing up here?" He demanded, eyes flashing. He looked over her shoulder at the guards standing nervously behind her, and rephrased his question. "_What_ is she doing up here?"

"Well… uh, she said she had something important to tell you, sir." Thin Moustache stammered nervously, his partner nodding his frantically. "Something real important."

"Ah. I understand." His eyes pinned Katara down again. "And what might this _real important_ thing happen to be?"

Katara pasted a phony smile on her face. "I need a comb for my hair."

Prince Zuko's eyes darkened, but before he could unleash his fury, a whoop and a shout from the first mate behind him took everyone's attention away from the little drama unfolding around the Water Bender prisoner. "The Main Fleet's here!" True, on the northern horizon, the first mast of a tall ship with a red flag fluttering on top had appeared.

Whatever happiness this statement was supposed to procure, it was lost as everyone on deck doubled their efforts at whatever it was they were doing. Cleaning, wrapping, carrying, pushing, shoving, shouting, and a multitude of other actions went into top speed.

The Captain rushed up behind the Prince, wiping his sweaty forehead with a handkerchief, evidently relieved at his first mate's news. "The Main Fleet's here, my Prince!" he said breathlessly, tugging on Prince Zuko's armor clad shoulder.

Zuko shrugged the Captain's hand away impatiently and snapped, "I know, Captain, I'm not deaf!" The Captain backed away nervously.

The Prince turned back to his previous victim. He appraised her silently. "I suppose you could stay on deck. We'll have to move you soon anyways. Just don't get in the way." He glared at her two guards. "Make sure nothing happens to her. Do you two idiots understand me?"

The aforementioned idiots nodded frantically.

The Prince continued on, golden eyes filled with fire. "Whatever happens to her, happens to you, is that clear? If she is accidentally run through with a spear, _you_ are purposefully run through with a spear. If she accidentally falls off the side of the boat, _you_ will purposefully fall off the side of the boat." He gave them all one last angry glare before whirling around to listen to the Captain jabber information nervously in his ear.

Katara shot the guards a mischievous look over her shoulder. This could be fun. But before she could think up an idea to do anything, the ship swayed to the right and she leaned her back on the railing of the deck to steady herself. "Shit!" Her hands were still tied behind her back, and she'd ended up crushing her burnt hand. She quickly withdrew from the railing and winced, cursing. Nothing she could do when her hands were tied up. The servant had brought a salve and bandages earlier this morning and helped her wrap it up. The salve helped, but the skin of her hand was still blistered and red and hurt whenever she touched it. Shooting a look over her shoulder at the cause of all her troubles, she thought that, personally, she'd just love to ram a spear through _his_ back. He was her enemy, and he was keeping her imprisoned on his stupid ship. If that wasn't bad enough, he was luring Aang and Sokka into a trap as well.

Biting her lower lip worriedly, she wondered if her brother and friend were looking for her now. Did they know the Fire Benders had taken her? Were they searching for her right this moment? Maybe not, she conceded to herself. Appa had only had one night of rest, and that probably wasn't enough for the hardworking flying bison. The furthest they could possibly fly was maybe a few miles today. Since she'd been asleep with they left the island, Katara had no idea how far out they were from the nearest landmass. If she jumped off the side of the ship now (along with her two dim-witted guards, probably), she could swim until she drowned from exhaustion and never find land, even with her Water Bending abilities to help her.

She would have to resign herself to a few more days of captivity. Before she could get much too gloomy, she raised her head up and gasped at the sight of a dozen, maybe more, brightly painted red ships coming towards them from the North. Each ship was bigger than the last, and all had proud red flags with gold designs waving from their masts. The sails were red, the wooden bodies of the ships were made of beautiful golden-red wood, and there were a lot of them. Katara counted exactly 14, which made an average-sized fleet complete with 5 smaller scouting ships, 3 warships, 5 cargo ships, and one gigantic, ornate, proud flagship of the fleet. It was easily double the size of all the other ships, and triple the size of the ship Katara was currently on, which she surmised must be one of the smaller scouting ships.

She almost didn't notice Prince Zuko coming up next to her. "Amazing sight, isn't it?" He said, almost gently. She nodded silently, her eyes fixated on the flagship that was drawing closer and closer, throwing a shadow over the crew on the deck. "They are beautiful." She admitted.

Prince Zuko seemed to rouse himself from a stupor and gave her an arrogant glance. "Of course, this is nothing. It's barely even one tenth of the whole Fire Nation fleet." Katara was sure that if he had been anything less than a Prince, he would have turned up his nose at her and sniffed haughtily. As amusing as that image was, Zuko was still a Prince, and acted accordingly. He simple turned at her silence and left to go back to supervising the Captain and his crew.

Suddenly the fleet didn't seem so beautiful and warm anymore. The cold shadow thrown by the flagship and the warships, which were quickly drawing up close, reminded Katara that yes, this was a war fleet, and yes, this was partly why the Fire Nation was conquering the world. If Prince Zuko's words had been any indication of the true size of the Fire Nation's fleet, then no wonder the other four elements were falling beneath it. The cold metal cannons gazing threateningly out from the side of the warships made Katara turn away and sit down on a box, with her guards following along behind her.

Soon, slanted wooden planks were laid down between the flagship and the smaller scouting ships. Supplies began to move back and forth, men grunting with the load. Pulleys and ropes dangling overhead helped move larger cartons of food supplies and cannonballs from ship to ship.

Prince Zuko appeared next to her, grabbing her hands behind her back and hauling her to her feet with a terse "Let's go". Katara cried out and wrenched away from his grasp, panting at the pain in her left hand.

"What do you think you're doing?" He hissed at her. The crew had stopped to watch them. He couldn't lose face in front of his men, not being able to even keep a hold on a girl. "Is there a _problem_?" His scarred face fixated in an angry scowl.

"Yeah," She shot back "I'm trying to save my hand. The one that _you_ burnt."

He gave her a cursory glance and snatched her right arm, drawing her close to him again. His grip on her arm tightened. "You'll live." He said cruelly. Jerking her forward, he made her walk in front of him towards the walkway from the smaller boat to the flagship, where Katara guessed they'd be staying.

Placing a shaky foot on the wooden plank, Katara took the first step forward. She wasn't afraid of heights (the constant flying on Appa had taken care of that) nor the ocean water below (she _was_ a water bender) but the slope from the smaller ship up to the flagship was pretty steep, and the wooden plank was smooth without any sort of foothold. She could easily slip, hit her head, and die before she knew it. Her hands were also tied behind her back, preventing any further balance she could have achieved.

She was halfway across the gangplank now, her two guards easing up behind her, undoubtedly more nervous than she was. She could feel Prince Zuko's eyes boring into her back, making sure she didn't try anything funny.

At that moment, a crewman on the flagship lost his hold on a rope connected to a pulley, and the load of crates on the other end of the rope swung down wildly and headed directly for the plank Katara and her guards were now easing across.

Looking up, Katara's eyes widened before she screamed and the sharp corner of a crate caught her in the stomach and swept her off the plank. She splashed into cool, salty water some 20 feet below the gangplank high in the air, and struggled to get back to the surface with her bound hands. She distantly heard two other resounding splashes, which were most likely her guards. Whether they'd fallen in from the crates as well, or Prince Zuko had them pushed in, she didn't know, and frankly didn't care. Stopping her natural instinct to struggle, she focused on building enough energy to summon a wave strong enough to shoot her back up onto the flagship's deck. Just as she almost had it, a third splash shook the water next to her, and even before she saw his eyes, she knew it was Prince Zuko. He grabbed her hard around the waist, and they were immediately tugged out of the water by a long rope connected to the Zuko's waist. They were hauled up fairly fast by the crewmen (this was their _Prince_ after all) and the two were pulled over the railing of the flagship and tumbled to rest on the deck, panting and dripping wet.

"Why… wh-why did you jump in, moron?" Katara coughed and glared at Zuko.

He looked surprised, probably because he thought his efforts should have been more appreciated. "To save you, of course!"

Staggering up, Katara swung her wet hair out of her face. "In case you didn't notice already, your _majesty_," she said scathingly, "I am a _Water Bender_. Which means I can swim. Unlike your two soldiers in there." She tossed her head at the guards yelling and screaming for help from their crewmates.

"Your hands are tied behind your back. You couldn't swim like that." He hissed, stomping over and grabbing hold of her arm, yanking her away from the staring sailors and soldiers on deck. He dragged her all the way down a single flight of stairs and through an ornately carved door where he threw her on the floor.

She glared at him. He glared at her.

"I except that if your precious fucking _Avatar_ had jumped into the water to save you, you'd be much more appreciative of him than a shoddy rescue attempt from _me_, a mere _Prince_ of the Fire Nation." He glared down at her, water dripping from his single ponytail

Katara ignored the jibe about her "precious Avatar". "It was your choice to rescue me." She said calmly. "I am perfectly at home in the water. I could have easily summoned a wave to bring me back onto the ship safely. Which was what I was _planning_ to do before _you_ jumped in and screwed everything up!" Her tirade ended in a scream.

He scoffed, a sarcastic look twisting his mouth. "Like I'm supposed to believe that? Were you just going to jump back onto your captor's ship like a good little prisoner? You would have gone shooting off to who-knows-where, looking for that fucking Avatar and your brother, that puny excuse for a warrior." His eyes narrowed. "And if you are so _at home_ in the water, you probably orchestrated that whole rope breaking so you could make it look like an accident that you fell into the water!" He loomed over her, staring her straight in the face. "Don't think I didn't see right through your stupid little plan."

Before she could wonder why he felt the need to add a swear word before "Avatar" every time he said it, or get mad at him for calling her brother a "puny excuse for a warrior" or deny that she would ever make up a plan as stupid as the one he'd accused her of, he had stood up abruptly and kept his eyes trained out the window, picking distastefully at his heavy armor, dripping with saltwater.

"I hate this fucking ocean." He stated without any emotion, and left the room, slamming the door behind him and locking it securely with what sounded like 4 separate padlocks on the outside of the door.

* * *

**A/N:** In a rare turn of events, I did not have any homework tonight, so that means two chapters! I'm getting excited about this story (maybe just a bit obsessed) but that's a good thing for the readers, yes? Thanks for all the helpful comments. I really did read them and think about the constructive criticism. Now, the usual: read and review! 


	4. Chapter 4: An Uncomfortable Situation

**Category: **Avatar: Last Airbender  
**Author:** RedNovember  
**Title: **The Hunter and the Prey  
**Pairing: **Zuko/Katara  
**Genre: **Romance/Action  
**Rating: **T (PG-13) for now, but if I have to up it to M (or R) I will.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of this series. However, the fanfiction written, the plot contained and any original characters I might write (planning on a couple) I do own.

**A/N: **Anyways the last chapter (chapter 3) uploaded kind of funny so that it cut off my first paragraph and inserted weird letters in some places. I might upload it again soon, because I also caught a bunch of mistakes I made (grammar/spelling). I'm debating whether or not I should get a Beta…

**A/N 2:** Also I did a little research at some fan sites earlier to find out some more information about the show that I previously didn't know. A couple things I did have problems with: Apparently Zuko only travels with one crew of Fire Nation soldiers and that means he has only one ship under his command, not a gigantic fleet like I put in the last chapter. Well. That's one mistake we can ALL overlook for the sake of the story, yes?

**A/N 3: **This is irrelevant but... Who else here is excited for Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith? YESSSS geek power! It comes out May 19th, and I really want to see it!

**Chapter 4: An Uncomfortable Situation**

After Zuko's abrupt departure, Katara had been unable to do anything but haul herself up onto an armchair. Her hands were still bound behind her back, and her left hand still smarting from where she'd smashed it when Zuko had thrown her to the floor.

A servant had soon arrived, the same one, Katara suspected, who had served her on the previous ship.

"About time." She muttered. The servant gave no answer, just redid her bandages for her, and brought her a set of dry clothes. They were exactly the same as her previous set, and she had a sneaking suspicion that they were Zuko's clothes, for he wore the same style of shirt and pants underneath his armor. They were also made of a much finer material than any of the sailors and soldiers on the ship could afford.

She also suspected it was Zuko's room she was staying in. It was lavishly furnished with all sorts of fine upholstered armchairs, couches, and settees. A handsome mahogany desk with an ornate crystal lamp stood in one corner. The furniture wasn't nailed to the floor in this room, probably because the soft maroon rug under her feet was much too expensive and valuable to drill holes in.

However, the gigantic bed was nailed to the wall. Katara had never imagined a bed could ever be that comfortable-looking and so _large_. It was hung with red velvet canopies and golden tassels to shut them for privacy. Though privacy from _what_, Katara wondered sourly. The door had four freaking locks on it anyways.

Countless pillows covered the sheets and comforter on the bed. Katara was sure they were made of velvet, satin, silk, and any other number of expensive cloths. She ran a hand down one side of the gold-edged satin sheet, and, unable to resist the temptation, leaped on top and snuggled into heaven. Seeing as her last couple of beds had consisted of A) A flying bison's back and B) The hard earth in a thin sleeping bag and C) a dirty little cot on a scouting ship, you couldn't really blame her.

* * *

It was extremely uncomfortable striding around on deck wearing a suit of wet armor and squelching sea water in his boots with every step he took. Zuko stomped angrily to the main bridge where the Captain of the ship and several more important officers were waiting for him. He couldn't very well arrive at a meeting with top members of his crew while he was dripping water everywhere, but he absolutely REFUSED to go back to his room, in which Katara was currently kept against her will. It'd be like admitting to defeat or apologizing if he went back so soon after a fight with the girl. 

So he continued doggedly on, until a hand tapped his arm.

"Uncle!" Zuko was a bit surprised to see his father's brother. He'd known Uncle Iroh was on the flagship of course, but hadn't expected to see him until after the meeting.

"Need some help getting out of that armor, Zuko?" His uncle helped him unstrap the metal guards on his arms. "I heard about what happened."

"Then you probably know about the girl as well." Zuko replied dispassionately, wriggling his arm out.

"Yup."

Zuko waited five more seconds for a longer-winded reply from his uncle before snapping, "Well? You usually have an opinion on every single thing I do, whether it's losing the Avatar's trail or taking a breath."

His uncle looked at him calmly. "Where is she now?"

"In my cabin." Zuko replied tersely. "Take this back too, will ya?" He shoved the wet metal armor at his uncle. "I'm late for a meeting." He stomped off, not bothering to change out of his wet shirt and pants. They would air dry soon enough on this sunny day.

His uncle turned and headed for Zuko's cabin.

* * *

A rattling of the locks on the door woke Katara up. An old man stepped into the room, carrying what looked like Zuko's armor. he hunt it up on a stand in a corner, then sat down in the armchair next to Katara's side of the bed. 

"Who are you?" She asked suspiciously. The old geezer was dressed in Fire Bender armor. Probably not somebody friendly.

"I'm Zuko's Uncle Iroh." He said, continuing to study her. Now Katara remember him. "And you must be the lovely prisoner of Zuko's I've been hearing so much about."

"Oh yeah? From who?" Katara sniffed. If he had been hearing things from Zuko, he probably wouldn't have called her lovely. She had another frightening thought. "Are you an... an interrogator?" Torturer was the real word hanging in her mind.

He laughed. Katara didn't think it was very funny. "No, girl, no."

"Well then." Katara relaxed and settled back into the pillows. "I have some questions for you."

"I'll see what I can answer." Iroh settled back into his armchair as well.

"What ship are we on?"

"The flagship of Zuko's fleet, the _Golden Flame."_

"Where are we going?"

Iroh looked away carefully. "I'm going to have to ask Zuko if I can tell you that."

Katara was flabbergasted. "What! You have to ask HIM if you can do certain things? You're the elder one!" In her Southern Water Tribe, the elders had always had the last word in everything. Why Uncle Iroh had to bend over to ask his nephew's permission to do something shocked Katara.

"He's the Prince." Iroh stated simply. A mischievous smile popped onto his face. "How old do you think Zuko is, girl?"

"My name's Katara." She said automatically. "How old Zuko is?" She frowned, not having given much thought to the matter before. How old was that insane man?

Uncle Iroh leaned forward and rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "Your answer, dear Katara, could definitely be the highlight of my day."

She decided to take a shot at it. "Um... twenty? Twenty-one?" Seeing the expression on Iroh's face, she hurried to make an adjustment. "Late twenties?" She finally squeaked out.

Iroh burst into laughter so loud that the guards outside (not Thin Moustache and his nervous companion- they had been removed awhile ago by Zuko) looked at each other in confusion.

Iroh laughed for a full minute before quieting down and attempting to force some words through his mouth. Katara was frozen stiff. Had she guessed too young? Too old?

"Katara. Your captor, his Majesty the great Prince Zuko, is exactly 17 years of age!" Iroh waited for her reaction with a silly grin on his face winkle-lined face.

Katara was silent. That meant he was only two years older than herself, and the same age as her older brother Sokka! How could things be so different between the two of them? Him, driven and determined to achieve his goals, acting like an aged commander, ordering around men twice his age on his own Fire Navy Fleet that had the power to completely demolish a large city on land. Her, still running around the world with her protective older brother and a 12-year-old Avatar-in-training.

"Well," She started abruptly. "That was a bit of a surprise."

Iroh studied her carefully. "I guess I shouldn't have laughed myself." Standing up slowly from his armchair, the retired General placed his hands on his hips and surveyed the room. "I understand why you're surprised. Zuko's got a lot on his shoulders, girl. He does act like he's twice his age, and he takes on a lot of responsibility. Sometimes he acts like more of an adult than I do." He chuckled, a bit sadly. "He didn't have much of a childhood, what with his mother dead, his father waging a war, and his exile at fourteen." Iroh looked at her from the side of his eyes. "Don't tell him I told you any of that."

Katara nodded silently at this new information.There was an explanation behind all of his odd behavior. He'd always seemed so intense, and now that she'd learned his age, a bit too intense sometimes.

"I'm going to have to leave you to your lonely and lovely self now." He winked at her. She couldn't tell if he was serious or not. "People will start to wonder why an old geezer like me is spending so much time in a room alone with a beautiful young lady such as yourself." He winked again, and Katara sincerely hoped he was joking this time. Otherwise, he was one very perverted old man.

"Thanks." She said, waving as he left. Whatever his intentions might be, he'd provided her with some conversation and company enough to keep her thinking for the rest of the day.

* * *

Iroh caught up to Zuko as he was leaving the Captain's cabin. 

"So what's the plan, my dear nephew?" The older man said, walking alongside the Prince of the Fire Nation. "Where to next?"

Prince Zuko sighed and massaged his temples with one hand, the other hand holding a pack of long tubes containing several important sea maps. "Well, I want to get back to the Fire Nation as fast as possible, but Captain Raku says that there's an average-sized town on the coast of Earth Kingdom not far from here. Five days sailing, maybe less."

"Is it one we've conquered?" His uncle asked.

"Yes, we have several legions stationed there to keep them under control, but they're still not exactly the friendliest of towns. Two of our cargo shops have run low on food supplies, and you know how paranoid Raku is about having enough food for his crew." Zuko sighed again as they reached the officer's dining room, and spread out one map on an empty table.

"Well if they refuse to give us what we want, we can always use force."

"That's no problem." Zuko swatted a fly away before bending to peer at the map with his Uncle. "I just want to get back to the Fire Nation Capital as soon as possible."

"Why?" His uncle inquired curiously.

"There's reports of pirates in these waters, and now that I have the girl with me, the Avatar will probably catch up in a few days and attempt a rescue of some sort." Zuko said. "Neither the pirates nor the Avatar will get what they want, if I have anything to do with it. It just might delay us awhile."

"Eager to get home?" His uncle said softly.

Zuko's eyes hardened. "No. But the sooner I get back to the Capital, the closer the Avatar is to our strongholds and the less of an advantage he has. I can spring my trap on him sooner."

"Well," Iroh said, clapping a hand on his nephew's shoulder. "I trust you to make the right decision. I, myself, must leave you to your great pondering. I'll see you at dinner?" He started out the door into the sunlight.

"Yeah, maybe." Mumbled Zuko as his Uncle left. The Prince spent the rest of the afternoon rethinking decisions and arguing with his Captain and Officers on the best course to take the fleet. Tiring work for a great Prince, certainly.

* * *

Zuko unlocked his door and went into his cabin before locking it again and depositing all his maps on the desk. Lighting several lamps for light around the room, he quickly undressed and redressed in a clean shirt and trousers. His wardrobe was essentially all the same. One didn't really need variety on a warfleet at sea. Rubbing his eyes tiredly, he swept aside the canopies on one side of the bed and realized belatedly that Katara was still in his room.Or, more accurately, in his bed. 

Blearily opening her eyes, Katara awoke to find Zuko staring her straight in the face. "What?" She mumbled, her brain still in the fog of sleep. As she realized what was happening and who it was standing at the side of the bed, her eyes sharpened. "What do you want?" Come too annoy me again? she thought silently.

"You're in my bed." Prince Zuko stated, for lack of anything better to say.

"Well," Katara said, shifting so her back was turned to him. "It's _my_ bed now. _You_ can sleep on the couch."

Zuko began to get just a trifle annoyed. He had spent a tiring day rescuing unappreciative girls, arguing with his crew members on where to get more supplies, and he just wanted his goddamn bed to goddamn sleep in. The fact that Katara and pointedly turned her back on him only served to piss him off more.

"Well," He started icily, striding around to the empty side of the bed, "As of this moment, it's _my_ bed." He sat down and shifted the sheets and pillows around with more energy than needed. "_You_ can go sleep on the couch."

Katara raised her head from her pillow to gape at him. Slowly she glared at him, as he turned to face her, lying down fully next to her in the bed now. "A true gentleman _you_ aren't." She said, in the same icy tone he had used earlier. "I'm not moving." She flopped back down, facing him. They glared at each other.

Zuko realized he was acting like a surly teenager. It didn't occur to him that at 17, this was the way most boys of his age acted. Things had always been different for him. He turned away from Katara so he was lying on his back. "Well. I'm not moving. And neither are you." He looked at her from the side of his eyes. "This bed is certainly big enough for the two of us."

Katara's eyes widened. He couldn't be suggesting that they spend the night together, in the same bed! Her resolve hardened. She wouldn't be the first to back down. "Fine." She said, thin-lipped. "But you better not snore."

"And you better not kick me." He shot back.

"You better not _touch_ me."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

She made a disbelieving _hmph_ noise. "I know all about teenage boys. You're all the same testosterone-driven hormone freaks." Her brother usually made a fine example.

He looked at her for a moment before turning away. "I'm different."

And that ended the conversation for the night.

* * *

**A/N: **If anybody is wondering about the ages I gave Katara and Zuko, they are valid to a certain extent. The Nickelodeon website stated on it's character guide for the show that Zuko is currently 16, Katara 14, and Aang 12 (They don't give Sokka's age). I made Zuko and Katara each a year older for the purposes of my story. Sokka I guessed to be around the same age as Zuko. 

**A/N 2: **Hopefully there was enough Z/K action in this chapter to tide you over. I haven't abandoned Aang and Sokka yet, I'm just more concerned with the interaction between Z/K right now. I'll get to the boys later, don't worry. So, in this chapter, we've dealt with a responsible Zuko and a stubborn Zuko. We've met the angry version in previous chapters. I'm not sure about the entire length of this story yet, although I've made a brief outline. I'm thinking 8-10 chapters, maybe more.Again, please Read and Review!


	5. Chapter 5: An Even MORE Uncomfortable Si...

**Category: **Avatar: Last Airbender  
**Author:** RedNovember  
**Title: **The Hunter and the Prey  
**Pairing: **Zuko/Katara  
**Genre: **Romance/Action  
**Rating: **T (PG-13) for now, but if I have to up it to M (or R) I will.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of this series. However, the fanfiction written, the plot contained and any original characters I might write (planning on a couple) I do own.

**A/N:** Bit more Z/K action in this chapter. Details on Aang and Sokka are forthcoming. They'll soon be making a bigger appearance, don't worry. On with the story!

**Chapter 5: An Even MORE Uncomfortable Situation**

The warmth of the sunlight pouring in through the windows of Prince Zuko's cabin went largely to waste, as the canopies of the elaborate bed kept the sleeping from waking.

What a shame, thought Uncle Iroh, striding into the Royal Prince's bedchamber. Prince Zuko really had to stop hiding in his canopy bed in the mornings. The boy could do with some healthy Vitamin D as well as a generous dose of optimism, something the sun could hopefully provide.

He drew in a deep breath before nonchalantly sweeping aside the curtain at the foot of the bed and proclaimed, "Rise and SHINE, your Majes-" before he was cut off short by the sight in front of his eyes.

His shocked face slowly widened into a grin as the sleepy prince slowly woke up next to his bedmate. Apparently Zuko had been EXTREMELY optimistic last night…

* * *

As a bright ray of sunlight hit his face, Zuko squinted in his sleep and concluded that maybe a bit of sun in the mornings wouldn't hurt now and then. In truth, this morning was the most warm and comfortable morning he had had in a long while. He unconsciously tightened his arms around- 

Around _what_! Or, after a brief inspection, _who_? The realization came upon him suddenly and- "Oh _shit_."

He couldn't believe that after what he had said to Katara last night, he'd ended up touching her. And it really was _his_ fault, for, judging from their position, it was him doing the touching, not the other way around. Sometime during the night, the two had moved closer to each other (_very_ close, Zuko noted) and his arms had fastened around Katara's pliant waist, pulling her back flush against his chest, while his head was tucked over her shoulder, resting lightly on her neck. He was _spooning_ with her! They were pressed so closely together he could hear her breath lightly next to his ears, long and peaceful. It was an extremely compromising position. But definitely not altogether uncomfortable.

Looking up, he caught sight of the 2nd worst thing that would happen to him that morning. His uncle's foolish, grinning face was peeking between the canopies that were letting the sunlight in.

"Having fun?" His uncle said slyly.

Zuko quickly brought a finger to his lips, motioning for Iroh to be quiet. The last thing he wanted happening was Katara waking up. Still, she shifted in his arms and mumbled something. Zuko fervently prayed she wouldn't wake up until he got out of bed.

A loud knock on his bedroom door and a cry of "Prince Zuko!" was _the_ worst thing that happened to him this morning. Zuko, with a sinking feeling in his gut, recognized Captain Raku and First Mate Hurei's voices. Iroh, with a worried frown on his face, disappeared to open the door for the two men outside. Unfortunately, the knocking had woken up Katara as well. She shifted to face him and her eyes widened as she realized how close they were and where exactly his hands were placed on her body. She immediately sat up, raising her upper body off the bed (Zuko felt a very brief pang at the loss of her body warmth next to his) when Iroh's purposefully raised voice penetrated the dark privacy of the bed.

"Good MORNING, my DEAR CAPTAIN RAKU! Oh, and my oh my, has the FIRST MATE HUREI decided to join us as well? Come in and let's- OH! OFFICERS SAKAI AND TARU ARE HERE TOO! Is this not a _fine_ morning for a gathering of FINE _MEN_, with_out_, might I add, the company of FINE _WOMEN_?" A confused silence from the crewmembers greeted this enthusiastic declaration from Iroh.

Katara looked back down at Zuko underneath her and mouthed, "I think your uncle overdid it." He nodded in furtive agreement.

Officer Sakai's nervous, reedy voice raised itself from the silence. "We're here to talk to Prince Zuko, we know it's a bit early for his Majesty, but something urgent has-"

Iroh cut him off abruptly. "I'll go wake the Prince right now. Please give me one quick moment, gentlemen." He gave the confused crew a hasty smile before crossing back to the bed and poking his head in, but keeping the canopies tightly closed everywhere else, so from the inside it appeared as if his head was floating between the red curtains.

"The Captain, First Mate, and Officers are here, my dear boy!" His gaze flickered anxiously at Katara hovering over the Prince on the bed. "It's not my fault!" he mouthed silently.

Zuko glared at his uncle for a moment before clearing his throat and raising his voice to address the men in his room. "Gentlemen, I will be right with you."

There were murmurings of assent and uncomfortable shuffling outside as Zuko pushed Katara back down on the bed, mouthing "stay here!" before attempting to straighten his sleep rumpled clothes. Katara pulled the back of his shirt straight for him, and he nodded at her before climbing awkwardly out of bed and smoothing down his trousers before walking over to join the Captain, his uncle, and other crewmembers gathered around his maps on the table. "Good morning. What's the rush?"

Katara let out a breath of relief and relaxed back into the still-warm hollow Zuko had left in the bed as the men outside began to talk excitedly to each other. Hopefully they thought she was being contained in another room on the ship, not in Prince Zuko's own bedchamber, nevertheless in his own _bed_! The questions could wait. She would let Zuko deal with this… intrusion before her own inquisition would come for him.

Zuko's voice raised in a surprised and anxious note outside, and the furtive mumblings and excited jabbering from the Officers got louder. Katara frowned. The velvet curtains around the bed could sure dampen the sound pretty well. She caught one word, "pirates" and fear filled her insides. She brushed it away quickly. Why would a large and impressive fleet such as this one fear pirates? Most pirates traveled in single ships, sometimes grouping up in twos or threes to attack bigger prey. Even against a three-ship pirate attack, the Fire Nation fleet was certainly big enough to put off any sort of attack from any pirates. Confused, Katara moved gently, trying to make as little noise as possible towards the foot of the bed next to the curtain. The words "this morning" and "black flag" reached her ears and she pressed closer to the curtain.

Suddenly, the pillow underneath her slipped sideways and so did she. Fear and horror clenched her insides. She scrambled to grab hold of the bedpost but lost her grip and slid out from behind the curtains into a heap on the floor of the cabin.

The room fell silent, and Katara felt 6 pairs of eyes lock onto her.

After several moments of silence, First Officer Sakai was the first to ask the question. "Is this… your prisoner, Prince Zuko?"

Katara's cheeks blushed red. There weren't many explanations for this incident. The few that were available weren't respectable or particularly innocent in any way. She could hear the crewmember's minds clicking and whirling as they arrived at the absolute worst possible conclusion, as people have a tendency to do. She could also feel Zuko's and Iroh's horror radiating at her from the table at which they were standing.

She felt like jumping off the side of the boat and staying underwater for a long, long time.

Uncle Iroh cleared his throat, as Zuko seemed incapable of speech at the moment. "I believe the Prince and the lady need a bit of _alone_ time, Captain, so why don't we and your lovely officers proceed out the door and to a more, shall we say, _unoccupied _meeting place?"

Iroh ushered the men out the door, with Officer Sakai being the last to leave as he threw a suspicious glare at Katara who was still in her frozen position on the ground.

As the door clicked shut, an impenetrable silence descended upon the room.

"I'm sorry." Katara whispered, breaking the silence.

A loud _whoosh_ came out as the Prince sighed heavily. "That was probably the absolute worse thing that could have happened at the moment." He said calmly, regarding her from his standing position.

"I'm really sorry." Katara murmured again, this time raising her face to look at him.

Zuko moved as if to help her from the ground, but she stood up herself before he could reach her, and he cleverly disguised the movement by turning to the left and reaching for his armor instead.

She collapsed in an armchair, watching Zuko as he first put on the armor on his legs, which were little more than metal plates strapped to his thighs, knees, and shins. However, she could tell the dark metal was good quality.

"I should be apologizing for… for this morning." His bent head slightly muffled his voice.

"It's really okay." She said quietly, watching him from her chair.

"Yeah… it was pretty okay for me too." He stood up, unable to meet her eyes and scratched the back of his head a bit absentmindedly. Privately, Katara thought his discomfort was a bit… cute.

She hesitated, wondering what his real meaning was. "Yeah, it was okay… really okay for me as well." An awkward situation, but it was the closest either of them would ever come to admitting that sleeping in the same bed hadn't ended up being overly uncomfortable for both of them. Meaning they'd both liked it. A lot.

Katara grinned shyly, deciding it was time for some comic relief. "You're lucky. If your hands had been any more south of where they were originally, I would've sliced them off and you wouldn't have anything attached to your arms right now."

Zuko stared at her for a moment, unsure whether she was joking or not. He saw her smile and couldn't keep a slight grin off his face as well. He hid it, for it wasn't exactly good Princely behavior, consorting with the prisoner, and turned his face back to his armor. But Katara had seen it, and that was enough.

Zuko lifted the top part of his armor off the stand, and Katara watched him from behind. "That looks heavy." She commented, feeling a bit more at ease now.

He glanced at her sideways. He was still new to this Be-Nice-To-Katara-The-Prisoner thing. "You want to try it on?" He lifted it up questioningly.

She shrugged and got up, walking over and lifting her arms in the air as he settled it over her. It wouldn't hurt to try.

But it did. A lot. She gasped as he let go and the full weight of the metal pressed down hard on her smaller shoulders, making her reel backwards from the heaviness of it until she landed in her armchair. Sitting down, the suit of armor's shoulders went up to her ears, and the bottom half of her face was lost inside of it.

Zuko couldn't keep the stupid grin off his face. She looked hilarious, pinned to the chair like that.

Her arms flailed wildly. "Get it off me!" She gasped, and couldn't help laughing. "I won't be able to get up with this thing on. It's pinning me to the chair!"

He gave her a sly grin. "Maybe I'll just leave you there for the rest of the day. It looks much more effective than a guard or a lock."

"No!" Was her indignant reply.

He walked over and lifted it up before settling it over his own shoulders. It fit him well, and he was used to it. Katara stood up, rubbing her aching shoulders and glared at him. She knew her physical strength wasn't the same as his. For one, she was naturally smaller. Second, she depended much more on her mental and spiritual abilities to bend water as her form of defense and strength. Physical strength was not on her list of things to work on. That was usually her brother's department.

Zuko grinned wryly and turned his back to her, asking her silently to help him buckle up the straps on the sides. She did, pulling them tight before saying, "All done."

He buckled on his sword and knives. He didn't really need them, but they were there in case something came up that he couldn't deal with a bit of fire bending. Katara was silent behind him, and he wondered what was wrong as he turned around to face her. He was in an uncommonly good mood, even with the embarrassing incident from this morning.

Her worried face stopped him. "They think I'm sleeping with you." She said quietly, serious again.

It was her reputation she was worried about, Zuko surmised. "Well, you technically were." He meant it as a joke. He felt unusually optimistic this morning. How did she get his spirits up so fast? Nobody else could do it.

"You know what I mean."

Zuko sincerely hoped she wasn't out to destroy the good mood that she herself had built up for him this morning. He'd need it, what with the things he would be dealing with as soon as he stepped outside. The information brought by the Captain had not been reassuring.

"Well, what do you want me to do about it?" A bit of frustration crept into his tone. So much for the good mood.

Katara's eyes met his own before she looked away again. She did that often, he noticed. "I don't know."

"Well, I don't know either!" The tension in the room mounted again.

"It doesn't bother you?" She asked coldly.

"Well… yes… but, it's different for me."

"How so?" Her tone became more and more icy.

"I'm their prince. They won't dare contradict what I do, nor who I choose to keep in my bedchamber!"

She glared at him. "You are so arrogant. You think being a Fire Prince will excuse you from just about any type of behavior?"

He couldn't believe how fast they'd moved from joking to arguing in the space of a mere two minutes. "YES!" He bellowed, before stomping to the door and pulling it open. There were more important problems to deal with right now (for example, pirates) than an angry woman in his bedchamber. Apparently she could destroy his good mood as easily as she had built it up.

Before he slammed the door shut locked it, he looked back at Katara, who had flopped back onto the rumpled bed sheets. "Do you want to come outside?" He asked a bit gruffly.

"No." Was her short answer.

He was about to close the door all the way when her voice stopped him again.

"Wait. Come get me before lunch, okay?" She didn't sound as angry anymore.

"Fine."

He made sure to lock all four locks securely on the door. He was starting to learn that this girl was more unpredictable than he'd thought.

* * *

Prince Zuko arrived at the Officer's dining room where the Captain, First Mate, Officers, and Uncle Iroh were waiting for him. Uncle Iroh met him at the door with a quick "Did you solve everything?". Zuko gave him a quick nod before standing forward, meeting the eyes of his subordinates firmly and apologizing for his lateness.

Captain Raku pointed out the window at five black ships looming on the horizon. "I'm sure you recognize this group of pirates, my Lord."

Zuko took the telescope Officer Taru handed him and pulled it out to a length where he could focus on the flags of the ship. The sigil of two wickedly crossed swords met his eye.

"The Pirate Rishku?"

* * *

**A/N:** Good interaction for Z/K? A bit OOC? Moving too fast? Too slow? I'd love to know, if you could just click that one button down there that says a simple "Submit Review" on it... 


	6. Chapter 6: Temper Tantrums and The Pirat...

**Category: **Avatar: Last Airbender  
**Author:** RedNovember  
**Title: **The Hunter and the Prey  
**Pairing: **Zuko/Katara  
**Genre: **Romance/Action  
**Rating: **T (PG-13) for now, but if I have to up it to M (or R) I will.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of this series. However, the fanfiction written, the plot contained and any original characters I write I do own.**  
A/N:** Sorry this chapter is a day late! However, it's a bit longer than usual, so maybe that'll make up for it.

**Chapter 6: Tempter Tantrums**

For two days now, Aang and Sokka had been searching unendingly for Katara. To say that they were tired was an understatement. Actually, to say that _Appa_ was tired was the truer understatement. For it was the great giant bison who had been doing all of the flying, and therefore most of the actual physical work on their endless search for Katara.

In the beginning, they had not known where to begin. After rousing Appa from a long-deserved sleep, they had flown high into the sky, searching for any sign of a Fire Nation ship in the distance. _Nada_ was what they had seen.

Soon, however, Aang came up with a plan to find the Fire Nation ship. Sending 8 air currents along all 4 main compass directions (North, South, East, West) and the 4 smaller sub directions (Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest), he'd wait for the air currents to rebound on whatever they hit and eventually return to him, whispering of things they had passed and who they had seen.

However, the system wasn't always reliable. One time they flew southeast for half a day before realizing that the ship the air current had told them about was, in reality, a pirate ship. They had to turn back around and choose another direction to head in, losing much of the time they could have spent searching for Katara.

Most of the time it worked. The problem wasn't their direction. It was all about their strength. Really, Appa's strength. Every time they sighted a Fire Nation's red sail on the horizon, Appa was utterly exhausted and needed to touch base with land in order to take a break for the night.

The next day they would start off again, knowing the Fire Benders had put more distance between them, for their ship could travel at night.

So the two boys, a lemur, and a flying bison continued to island-hop behind a Fire Nation ship that was carrying their friend farther and farther away from them with each passing day.

* * *

Katara lay in bed majority of the morning after Zuko had left, stewing in her mind about their last conversation. And she couldn't stop thinking about the look the Captain and his Officers had given her when she fell out of bed. A look that said to them, she was just pure trash. For some insane reason, it didn't seem to matter to _Zuko_ that everyone else on this ship probably thought she was some cheap whore now. 

Fucking bastard.

_His_ reputation wasn't in jeopardy. In fact, she wouldn't be surprised if men started knocking on her door, offering 2 copper coins for a quick roll in the hay. Not that there was any hay on this ship, but that was clearly beside the point.

Her mind lingered for a long time on the subject, making up so many outrageous situations and possibilities that even she had to admit after a certain point that she was getting a bit overdramatic. Glancing outside the window, she noticed the sun had almost reached the highest point in the sky. Maybe an hour or two before noon. She glanced out the next window and noticed the cluster of black-sailed ships on the horizon. She squinted at them. They were still too far away to make out the sign on their flag.

Maybe these were the pirates Zuko and the Captain had been talking about. She grimaced slightly. Well if they weren't overly worried about it, she wouldn't be either.

Hopefully if the pirates did attack, they would be able to kill that reputation-destroying Zuko for her. Then she would be free! But there was also the fact that she'd just switch captors from Zuko to Pirates.

Zuko, or Pirates? Really, life was only about choosing the lesser of the two evils. There was no such thing as Good and Evil, as there had been in the nostalgic old times. Nowadays, it was only "Evil A and Evil B, which one are you most likely to survive with?"

…Maybe she would keep Zuko alive a little longer, just until Aang and Sokka arrived to rescue her.

Stepping from the bed, she crossed to the wardrobe and opened the carved door. Wow. He really did wear the same thing day after day. No wonder the man was practically insane. He definitely needed more variety in his life.

Not that she should be saying anything. Since leaving the Southern Water Tribe, she'd had nothing to wear but the two blue robes and several sets of underwear she possessed currently.

Shrugging, she simply exchanged one wrinkled red shirt for one non-wrinkled red shirt and wrinkled black trousers for non-wrinkled black trousers.

Untying her hair from it's customary ponytail, she combed it with her fingers, wincing at the snarls and tangles. Finally, it was neat enough for her to tie back up again. Rummaging through Zuko's closet once more, she found a plain leather belt that she clasped around her waist and tucked the too-long hem of the shirt into.

She wasn't even positive anymore that she wanted to leave the room for lunch. She wondered seriously if word had gotten round the ship about their little… incident this morning. If it had, Katara wasn't sure she could handle the embarrassment and humiliation. She hated it when people stared at her. Being the center of attention, especially for a bad reason, wasn't something she liked to do often.

Again, it all went back to the lesser of the two evils. Would she rather stay cooped up in Zuko's room all day, or go out, take a breath of fresh air, and eat some lunch?

Going outside was probably the lesser of the two evils. If she stayed in this room any longer today, she'd probably go completely insane.

The customary rattling of locks on the door alerted her to someone's presence. The door finally opened and Zuko stood there, tucking the key back into his shirt from were it hung on a thin golden chain. Katara was a bit surprised that he had come to get her himself, instead of sending one of his little minions to take care of the problem for him. On any other day, in any other situation, she would have been flattered. But he probably hadn't come to get her just to see her beautiful and shining face. No, more likely he came because he didn't trust the guards to keep an eye on her well enough. When you want something done right, you always do it yourself.

She crossed her arms over her chest and matched his neutral stare. They stood like that for several moments before Zuko finally spoke up:

"Come on."

He turned and left, expecting her to follow him.

She did, seething. Maybe an "I'm sorry, I was wrong and acted like a real jerk this morning" was too much to hope for, but he hadn't even bothered to say "Hi" or "Hello" or even a conversational "Nice weather today, eh?"

Fucking bastard.

She glared daggers at his ramrod-straight back as they climbed the flight of stairs to the upper deck. At the top of the stairs, he stopped to wait for her. They maneuvered through the usual crowd of working sailors shouting and cursing at each other, his hand resting on her lower back to guide her.

Was it just her imagination, or were there more eyes than usual following her and the Prince? Were there more whisperings, sniggerings, and guffaws trailing in her footsteps? Suddenly she felt completely and utterly exposed, wearing Zuko's shirt. The material was the lighter, more breathable fabric that most Fire Nation clothes were made of, since they spent more time in a hotter climate. The wind blew hard on the deck, outlining parts of her she would rather have kept concealed and hidden under a thick blue Water Bender coat. All of a sudden she was glad Zuko was there, hand on her back, guiding her through the crowds and ultimately keeping anyone from bothering her. She was grateful for his presence, even though he _was_ the sources of all her troubles.

They continued across the deck towards the Officer's dining room, trying to ignore all the eyes trailing them. Katara shrank close and close to Zuko, wishing, without success, that she could simply disappear into his shadow.

At the entrance to the Dining Room, a group of 5 rough-looking sailors were unloading bundles of something from several large crates. As Zuko and Katara approached, the five slowly stopped their workings to stare unabashedly at her.

She pretended not to notice it and shrank even close to Zuko, keeping the Prince between herself and the stares. If Zuko noticed her behavior (which he, in fact, did) he said nothing of it. The sailors merely craned their necks sideways to continue gaping openly.

"… Not bad, not bad at all…"

"… our Prince's got mighty good taste…"

"…'course, royalty always get the best ones first…"

Katara's cheeks flamed as she caught snatches of the sailors' conversation. Zuko's hand stopped her gently. "Is there a problem here, gentlemen?" He asked, in a low, dangerous voice.

Four of the sailors immediately shut their gaping mouths and hurried to unload the last of the crates.

"Wouldn't you know it." Said the remaining sailor dreamily. "I haven't seen a woman in such a goddamned long time-" He cut off short as he raised his eyes, realizing who he was talking to. His facial expression was one of the absolute horror.

Zuko leaned so close to him their faces were almost touching and hissed, "Get back to work."

The sailor tripped over himself scrambling to rejoin his comrades who were now sniggering at his foolish mistake.

Zuko, pressing his arm into Katara's back again, led them into the Dining Room where they sat down at the elegant walnut table in the middle of the room. The Officers of the ship had their own eating area, while the rest of the common sailors ate in the larger cafeteria next to the galley below decks. The food was also significantly better. The Captain also had a private dining room he used when eating with the Prince or other important nobles.

Immediately, two serving boys deposited steaming plates of fried chicken and a cool salad in front of them. Some kind of soup followed, and although Katara wasn't sure what it was, it smelled heavenly.

Katara was struggling to cut her chicken one-handed when Captain Raku and Officer Sakai arrived for lunch. They paused, standing by the table.

"Good afternoon, your Majesty." Raku said, both him and Officer Sakai bowing low to Zuko. He nodded politely back at them. The Captain paused, turning to Katara, who was still struggling to cut her chicken into smaller pieces. "And… good afternoon…" He clearly did not know what to address her by. "… Good afternoon my lady."

She whispered back her own "good afternoon", keeping her eyes on the plate. She wasn't exactly a lady by any means, but it was definitely better than "prostitute" or "slut".

The Captain and Officer took their seats next to Zuko, and were served the same meal by the kitchen boys. Zuko noticed her predicament, and giving her an inscrutable look, took over her plate and knife and began to slice her chicken for her. Captain Raku and Officer Sakai began a conversation on the danger literally looming over the horizon: The Pirate Rishku. Zuko listened as he finished with Katara's plate and handed it back to her. Quietly she said thank you. He merely nodded. It seemed that all traces of geniality they'd had that morning had disappeared.

The Captain, Officer, and Prince seemed genuinely worried about Pirate Rishku's presence. They began to count the advantages and disadvantages they'd have if a conflict or actual sea battle were to take place. Should they have the cargo ships leave first while the war ships and several scout ships stayed behind to deter the pirates? What of the flagship?

The name Rishku rang a familiar bell in Katara's head. Several years back, before many of the men of her tribe (including her father) had left to ally with the Earth Kingdom in order to fight the Fire Benders, she'd known a boy, a bit older than her, named Rishku. He'd been a general bully, made worse by the fact that his Water Bending skills were far beyond any other children of his age, including Katara. She remembered her hateful jealousy against the older boy, and how he'd taunt her, telling her she'd never be a great Water Bender. Her brother Sokka had come to her defense several times, using physical power that usually resulted in both boys getting several scrapes as well as in trouble.

However, when the men were called on to fight the Fire Nation army, Rishku, by that time a young man, had refused to help by lending his impressive skills to the Earth Kingdom. He had run off in the middle of the night with several other boys intent on avoiding going to war. They'd been called cowards, dogs too afraid to protect their families and friends. Katara remembered how she'd hated him so much, wishing it was him going off to war instead of her own father. She hadn't seen either her father or Rishku since.

She interrupted the men's talk suddenly. "Is this pirate Rishku a Water Bender?"

Officer Sakai appraised her with a slightly arrogant look. "Yes. What could _you_ possibly know about him?"

Feeling Zuko's eyes on her, she determinedly offered up the information she remembered about the Rishku from her tribe.

Captain Raku and Zuko sat silently, digesting the things she had told them. Officer Sakai however, let out a scoff of derision. "Really! I doubt that a teenager from a no-name Water Tribe with a few flashy tricks could end up being the dreaded Pirate Rishku. It's just hard to believe."

Katara couldn't help a short glare at the arrogant Officer, but knew that the more level-headed Captain and responsible Zuko would think seriously about the things she'd said. Zuko turned to her. "Do you know what happened to Rishku after he left the Southern Water Tribe?"

She shook her head no. "After her left, we never heard from him or his companions again." She looked up at Officer Sakai. "But there is a fair chance it's the same man."

Captain Raku considered it. "Maybe. The Captain Rishku is a skilled Water Bender, and several of his companions are as well."

Officer Sakai rolled his eyes, but only Katara saw it, for both the Captain and Zuko were spooning soup into their mouths at that moment. She knew he would never have dared to do it if Zuko had been watching. Sakai sneered at her. "_Or_, maybe it's just a simple coincidence."

She had to resist the strong urge to poke the pale man's eyes out with the tines of her fork. Instead, she concentrated on stabbing her salad and pretending it was Officer Sakai. What did he have against her?

Zuko finished eating his salad, and pushed back his chair. Katara took her cue from him and stood up as well. "Well, Captain, Officer," the Prince said, looking at both of them. "Katara and I will be heading to the Control Deck for a check-up with whoever is sailing the ship today."

"That would be Officer Taru." Sakai interjected quickly, eager to please his Prince with is knowledge. He seemed to practically _worship_ Zuko, which, for some strange reason, bothered Katara. Sakai must have been at least 30 years old. She wondered if he knew Zuko's real age.

_Stupid know-it-all_, Katara thought of Sakai hatefully. Never mind the fact that it didn't make sense (How could Sakai be stupid _and_ a know-it-all?).

"Would you care to join us?" Zuko continued.

Katara knew Zuko had said that just to be polite, but she hadn't expected Raku and Sakai to stand up and agree to go with them. Officer Sakai all but leapt out of his seat in eagerness. Drat! The Captain was a nice enough man whom she could stand, but that Officer Sakai was really grating on her nerves.

They left the Dining Room together silently and walked the long length of the ship to where Officer Taru stood, hands on the wheel, keeping a steady course North for the Fire Nation. He gave everyone a polite hello as they climbed the stairs to the deck where the flagship's main controls were.

Iroh gave them a glance as they came up. He had been chatting quietly with Taru before, keeping the man company. He gave Katara a friendly grin, and she couldn't help but smile back. He sidled over to her before leaning in close and giving her a sly grin, joked loudly, "So… sleep _well_ last night, my lady?"

Katara gave him a tight smile back. She knew it was just some good-natured teasing, for Iroh certainly hadn't misunderstood the situation as the other men had. Still, it irked her a bit that Iroh was so open about it. His comment hadn't been exactly _quiet_ either.

Captain Raku was discreetly trying to hide his obvious discomfort at the topic of subject. Officer Taru was pretending not to understand what they were talking about. Officer Sakai had several mixed emotions on his face. Uneasiness switched to disgust and then switched to an openly hostile stare.

Zuko simply said "Uncle." In a slightly bored-sounding warning tone. However, Katara could see the tension in his jaw and body, meaning he didn't want to speak about this morning in public. Apparently this subject really did affect him more than he had let on when he had left this morning.

Fucking _bastard_.

He could have let her know sooner, instead of putting on this whole "Oh it doesn't matter to me!" macho manly act. He really was too much for her to handle. Well. At least now she knew that they were on the same side.

Sakai had a strange expression on his face, looking like he was trying to summon up the courage to make some sort of declaration. At last, he did.

"Just _what_ is your relationship with his Majesty, Lady Katara?" He finally spit out.

Katara gaped openly at him for several seconds, as did everyone else on deck who had heard his impudent question. The man actually had the GUTS to ask her that, in front of Zuko himself? Who did Sakai think he _was_?

Obviously someone incredibly important, judging by the look on his face now. He thought himself the noble, upstanding subordinate, rushing to save his precious Prince's reputation. The fact that maybe _Zuko_ had initiated their little night together never seemed to occur to Sakai. He saw Zuko as the pure and honorable Prince who had been unfortunately seduced by her, this female snake who was obviously trying to influence the wonderful Zuko with her poisonous ideas and deceptive body!

Fucking BASTARD!

"You!" She hissed, stomping up to Sakai and staring him straight in the face. "YOU!"

The entire deck was silent, watching the drama unfold between the ship's top officer and the Prince's strange girl prisoner.

"You think I'm having _sex_ with your precious Prince!" She shouted. Behind her, Zuko winced visibly (not something he did often) and stepped up behind her, placing a restraining hand on her shoulder.

"Well I'm _not_, you idiot." Her voice slowly raised until she was screaming. "I'm a _virgin_! I'm a fucking _VIRGIN!_"

Dead silence met her words. Nobody moved and nobody made a single sound.

That was, until somebody in the Crow's Nest high above their heads let out a discreet cough and said, "That's good to know, lass."

Katara immediately deflated. Horrified at her own loss of temper, she felt tears beginning to push at the corners of her eyes. She pushed past Prince Zuko, unable to even look him in the face. She almost stumbled down the stairs from the Control Deck to the main deck and ran at a full tilt towards the stairs that led down to Zuko's room. Funny that she would run there for refuge when her presence there was what had caused this whole mess.

Zuko stared after her, completely speechless. He heard Captain Raku behind him order everyone back to work before quietly dismissing Officer Sakai. The thin, pasty-faced man rushed by, an embarrassing red hue staining his cheeks. He was probably absolutely horrified at having made such a mistake. Either that, or he was extremely pissed off that Katara had dared speak to him that way.

Zuko continued to stare unbelievingly after Katara.

"Maybe it's that time of month?" Iroh suggest quietly from behind him.

* * *

Katara stayed in the room the rest of the day. When dinner arrived, borne by her usual servant, she snatched the tray away and all but slammed the door in the poor man's face. She could barely stand the humiliation, and didn't want to know whether the servant had been present at her earlier escapade or had heard of it through word of mouth. Either way, it didn't matter. She wasn't leaving this room until the trip ended. Zuko wouldn't even have to bother with locks anymore. She wouldn't be leaving again unless he physically dragged her out of the room.

* * *

Zuko peered into the room, noticing the one lamp still lit, throwing dim light around the room. Experiencing a brief moment of panic when he couldn't see Katara inside, finally he located her sitting in an armchair next to the window, the light from the lamp flickering over her face. She was staring out at the dark sea and at the multitude of other lights glistening in the darkness from the fleet surrounding the flagship. 

She stood up slowly as he came in, crossing her arms across her chest. He noticed absentmindedly that she'd found and was wearing his black bathrobe. The bottom of it dragged a bit on the carpet. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Whether that was nervous habit or just plain nervousness, Zuko couldn't tell.

"I think I should get my own room now." She stated bluntly, eyes fixated on the floor. The woman didn't beat around the bush, Zuko noticed.

"You can't." He moved around her to sit on the couch and bent down to untie his boots.

"Why not?" She demanded angrily, head snapping up.

"No other rooms available." He grunted as he yanked off his left boot.

"_What?_" She said disbelievingly. "You expect me to believe that _your_ room is the _only_ room on a ship of this size?"

"I didn't say that." Zuko answered, a trifle annoyed. Really, sleeping with him wasn't _that_ bad, was it? (Briefly, in his mind, he imagined the way Uncle Iroh would interpret that statement). "I just said that there aren't any other rooms available for _you_. Unless you'd rather bunk with Captain Raku in the Captain's Rooms. Or maybe sleeping with First Mate Hurei in his room, or Officer Taru or even Officer Sakai might make you feel better. If not, there's always the sailors' bunks below decks. They don't have individual cabins like we do, so you'll have to do with a hammock and share a big room with four hundred other men snoring their way through the night, but I'm sure _you_ can make it work." He ended his sarcastic reply with a tight smile directed at her.

She glared at him. "Why can't Taru and… say, Sakai just bunk together and give _me_ the extra room?" She knew she sounded whiny, but she was going to make at least one thing go her way today, or she would go absolutely crazy.

"Because 40-year-old men don't generally sleep in the same bed together, no matter what the circumstances." He said wryly.

"And it's okay for _us_ to sleep together in the same bed, no matter what the circumstances?"

"At least we have an excuse." He said, unlacing his right boot.

"_What_ excuse?"

He finally looked up and met her eyes. She looked away again. "Don't make me say it." He said, knowing both of them were uncomfortable about the subject, especially Katara.

She knew she was fighting a losing battle, but couldn't resist one last try. "Well… if Taru and Sakai share a room, one of them can sleep on the floor."

"No." He stated simply. "Both of them work long hours each day making sure this ship functions, and they both need their sleep. You, on the other hand, do nothing but fight and scream at me and throw temper tantrums all day long." He said the truth bluntly.

Katara knew she was being selfish, but was still angry at Zuko's accusations. "Fine." She gritted out through clenched teeth. "I'll stay with you." She threw herself back on the bed. "It's not like I _wanted_ to be here in the first place." She glared at him. "You're the one who captured me. It's definitely not my fault."

"It's not." He agreed with her. To a certain point. To the point of making her shut up.

"Well, now that you have me, you're just going to have to put up with my _temper tantrums_. Either that, or you can let me go." She said, a triumphant look on her face.

He didn't say anything and stood up to put his boots in the bottom of his wardrobe. He'd put up with a _lot_ of things during his chase for the Avatar (including extreme danger and imminent death), but this was the first time he'd had to endure the mood swings of a teenage girl. (Maybe Uncle Iroh had been on to something about the time of the month thing.)

Whatever the cause of her mood swings was, it was most definitely a new experience for him. However, he wasn't sure whether he would classify Katara under "extreme danger" or "imminent death". He guessed either would work.

She walked over to him and peered in his wardrobe, but wouldn't look him in the face. She took one black shirt off a hanger. "I'll just wear this to sleep from now on, instead of changing clothes every day and making your servants wash more things." He nodded, her idea making sense.

Katara retreated to the other side of the room by the lamp and proceeded to change. Before she did, she shot a look back over her shoulder and scowled. "Don't you dare look."

"Wouldn't dream of it." He muttered, before realizing it was the same thing he'd said before going to bed yesterday night.

"That's what you said _last_ time." She muttered back. She'd caught his slip of words as well.

"Well, I _mean_ it this time." God she was annoying. It wasn't his fault they'd moved so close together in the middle of the night. He hadn't been awake at the time, and therefore thought he shouldn't have been held accountable for his actions. She probably didn't think of it that way.

However, when he turned back to change himself, he noticed that since Katara was standing in front of the dim lamp, it threw her slim silhouette onto the wall above the wardrobe. He watched as she quickly stripped off her day time shirt (which also belonged to him) and quickly pull the black shirt back on. He quickly tore his eyes away from the shadow on the wall and changed quickly. He hadn't technically been peeking. It was her own fault she hadn't checked to make sure the light wasn't doing funny things to her shadow. Besides, she'd been wearing something under the shirt.

By the time he was done, she'd already gotten into her normal side of the bed. He blew out the lamp and felt his way in the dark back to his side.

"Ow! That was my _stomach_, you retard!" She hissed.

"Sorry." He muttered quietly and quickly got back to his own side, laying down with a bit of shifting. Any higher up and he would've…

_Stop!_ He scolded himself. Really, did he want to turn into what Katara had called him last night? What was it, a testosterone-driven hormonal teenage boy? He definitely wasn't that. He was a Prince of the Fire Nation, Commander of the 1st Fleet of the Fire Navy, and Heir to the Throne. That's what he was.

They lay together in the dark for several quiet minutes. He noticed that they both took extreme care this time to stay on their own sides of the bed, maybe a bit farther apart than actually needed. They were both stiff as wooden boards.

"You didn't snore last night." Katara finally said, with a slight woosh of a sigh. He knew it was the closest she would ever come to apologizing for screaming at him earlier.

"You didn't kick me either." He said. Just to make it even. Not that he was actually sorry for anything. He didn't even have anything to be sorry _for_. Except maybe taking her prisoner.

Neither of them mentioned touching.

Eventually, both fell asleep. On their own respective sides of the bed.

* * *

However, the next morning woke to find them in a situation much like the previous morning's. 

Both woke at the same time. This time, Katara was facing Zuko, the top of her head tucked under his chin, arms wrapped around each other.

Iroh admired the adorable sight. He sighed nostalgically. "When I was a young lad, you wouldn't believe how many beautiful women I woke up next to some mornings. Of course, it was more like the _afternoon_ when we woke up, since we would both be so worn out from the previous night's events-"

"PLEASE UNCLE!" Zuko yelled desperately, one hand snapping up to cover his ears. "_Please_ stop."

"Alright, alright." Iroh couldn't keep a slightly maniacal smile off his face. "I'll tell you about my escapades later. When you're old enough to handle them." He gave Katara a wink.

Both Zuko and Katara sighed in relief and relaxed.

Iroh grew incredibly serious. "However, Captain Raku and the First Mate want to see you immediately. It's about the Pirate Rishku. Apparently he's advancing at a pretty fast pace. He obviously wants to make some kind of contact with us, whether violent or otherwise."

"Okay. Tell them I'll be up there in five minutes." Zuko sighed and Iroh left quickly, shutting the door firmly behind him.

The room was silent again. Neither of them moved to get up from the bed. It was extremely comfortable lounging in the warmth of the morning and each other. Zuko didn't even really _want_ to leave, although he knew he had to. It seemed like the soft morning was the only time they could spend together without one of them losing their temper.

Katara started, "Can you _imagine_ your uncle-"

He cut her off weakly. "DON'T even start. I've already got images in my head and they aren't pretty."

She giggled softly and they were silent again.

Finally he sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Katara gave a small sigh behind him and rolled into the spot he just vacated. Zuko quickly dressed in his normal uniform and said a quick "See you later" before he left. Closing the door, he saw Katara give him a small wave from the pile of blankets and pillows she was buried in. He allowed himself a small grin before composing his face to have a meeting with his Captain and Officers about the Pirates. It was starting to seem more and more like they would have to engage in some sort of conflict sooner or later. Most likely violent. Pirates weren't known to be very diplomatic.

* * *

Let behind in the bed by herself, Katara felt incredibly alone now that Zuko had left. Well. There was nothing much more she could do until he came back, unless something else happened to catch her attention. She definitely wasn't going outside. She sighed and closed her eyes.

* * *

She was surprised when Zuko turned up to join her for lunch, balancing a tray of food from the Officer's Dining Room in each hand. She accepted it gratefully, since she hadn't had any breakfast. They both ate silently for a moment, sitting in separate armchairs. 

"So," Katara started, wiping the corners of her mouth clean with her napkin. "How is the situation now with Rishku?"

Zuko swallowed his last mouthful of soup. "He hasn't sent us any sort of message yet. To be truthful, we're not sure."

Katara frowned slightly. "Why are you even worrying about him? Your fleet is huge!" She glanced outside at the myriad of Fire Nation ships surrounding the flagship in the center of the fleet. "It's fourteen ships against five. We both know the odds to that, and I'm sure the pirates do as well."

Zuko leaned back in his chair, finally full. "I don't think you really understand who the Pirate Rishku is." He said carefully. "Have you heard anything of him, aside from your own story about the Rishku from your tribe?"

She shook her head no, reluctantly.

"Well, there's the fact that practically all of the pirates under his command are Benders of some sort. Water, Earth, even a couple Fire Bender deserters." He grimaced at the idea of his own countrymen deserting the Fire Nation to join a rogue pirate. "Obviously there aren't any Air Benders."

He continued on. "Water Benders have an obvious advantage in the ocean. They can create giant waves to capsize ships, and they can speed up their rate of traveling by manipulating the currents and driving their own ships along faster. The especially powerful ones can whip up a storm in seconds, making it especially difficult for a fleet of this size to stay coordinated and under control." He took swallowed the last of his soup. "When battling with an enemy ship, what we do normally is start a large fire on their ship as fast as possible. They sink in seconds and there is virtually no battle and a quick deathless victory for us." Zuko grimaced slightly. "It's usually a good plan. But the Water Benders with Rishku can put out fire easily with their own water."

Katara cut in quickly. "But what use are Earth Benders in the middle of the ocean?"

"You'd be surprised. Cannonballs and arrows are what we usually use when the first option of fire fails. Each of our warships is equipped with forty large-sized cannons on each side of the ship. Our scout ships have weaponry as well, and though not as powerful, they can still inflict significant damage, especially if there are many of them working and attacking together. This flagship has several cannons and many archers to defend against most attacks. Our cargo ships are our biggest weaknesses and the ones we have to protect the most." He stopped to catch his breath. "However, cannonballs are generally made of metal, which therefore comes under the element of Earth. Metals, minerals, and other raw sources we use to melt and create cannonballs all come from the ground. Arrows are made of wood."

"Both wood and metal are under Earth. Have you ever shot off a powerful cannon towards your enemy and two seconds later have the same cannonball shooting back, straight at your face? The Earth Benders can stop arrows and cannons right in their tracks and send them back from where they came from with the more than enough power."

He gazed at her calmly, not betraying any of his worries underneath the skin. "Do you understand why we're worried now? We have a bit of an advantage because we have so many more ships than they do. Still… it's going to be hard. Usually with a fleet this size, intimidation is enough of a weapon." Zuko gave her a weak smile. "Most people give up before the battle's even started. Which I don't think is going to be the case with Rishku."

Katara stared at him. Obviously she hadn't thought the situation was as bad as it currently was.

Out of the corner of his eye, Zuko noticed a slight movement outside the window. Funny, the cabin boys weren't supposed to be wiping down his window until next Thursday…

_SMASH! _A cannonball sailed straight through the window and shattered it into a million pieces of tiny glass. It sailed straight towards Katara's head and as her face turned towards it and a horrified expression came over her, Zuko leapt across the table and slammed her down onto the floor, covering her from the tiny glass pieces with his body. She screamed and the sound of laughter drifted in from outside the window, the direction the cannonball had come in.

Zuko hissed at the girl underneath him, "Stay down!" and crept to the shattered window frame. Peering outside, he saw the small rowboat bobbing underneath his window on a swell of ocean water. A small white flag waved from a tiny stick held in the hand of a smirking black-haired man.

"Did I interrupt something, my dear Prince Zuko?" The man smiled widely, displaying a black gap where he was missing a tooth. "I heard a woman scream. Or was that you?"

"Rishku?" Zuko replied incredulously. Unbelievable. How had the pirate gotten past all the scout ships defending the flagship?

"In the flesh."

"How… how did you get here?" Zuko immediately regretted stammering. He sounded more like a nervous schoolboy than a commanding Prince.

"Can't you see my humble little rowboat?" Rishku laughed without any sort of sincerity. "Oh, and here's Lundo, he's a Water Bender, and he can really improve my trusty little rowboat's average traveling speed." Rishku flicked a hand at the sullen-faced man sitting next to him and patted the wooden rowboat.

"What do you want?" Zuko demanded. He wondered if anybody had heard the explosion. His hand slipped to his belt where his knives hung.

Before Rishku could reply, Katara appeared at his elbow. Her eyes widened.

"Rishku? It _is_ you!"

The black-haired man immediately lost all his previous confidence and was genuinely shocked at Katara's presence. "_Katara?"_

"It's me, alright." Her face was guarded now, watching him carefully. "Where have you been all this time?" Though he was now obviously an outlawed pirate, it was still extremely comforting to see a familiar face from her old tribe. Even if he had abandoned them so many years ago.

"Places." He said indifferently. Rishku had regained his cool as well. "The question is, what are _you_ doing here? With the Fire Nation Prince, of all people?"

Zuko cut in before Katara could answer. "She's with me."

"I can see that." Rishku said with an air of feigned annoyance. Zuko could read from his eyes that the pirate was _definitely_ interested in Katara being on the ship. "What are you doing with her?" He directed his question towards Zuko.

"She's… we're betrothed." He said, seizing on the first idea that came to mind. He'd pay for it later, but he really didn't need Rishku getting any ideas about Katara. Friendly or not.

Zuko saw Katara's shocked and angry expression, but she was smart enough not to deny anything.

"Reeeeeeeeeally." Rishku was not convinced. But he decided to take the excuse, for now, anyways. He'd soon find out what the real situation was. Once he got his hands on the girl from his tribe. His face took on a wicked, mocking grin. "Well, well, well, Katara. I would have _never_ imagined it. Little, featureless, ugly, wannabe Water Bender Katara, snaring herself a prince!" He inspected her closely, from top to bottom, obviously trying to figure out why the Prince would take an interest in her.

Katara felt her face grow hot as Rishku basically undressed her with his eyes. Zuko felt himself grow angry, although why, he didn't know. He stepped in front of Katara, blocking her from Rishku's view. A perfectly normal reaction, if he was to play Katara's husband-to-be. Never mind that he didn't even need to pretend to get angry.

Rishku raised his eyebrows slightly, having his inspection cut off quickly. "Well I must say you certainly _have_ changed, Katara." He leered at her. "Although definitely for the better."

The pirate turned back to the Prince. "That cannonball was a message, your Majesty." Rishku smiled gleefully, not looking the least bit sane. "In exactly 3 hours we will begin our attack on your impressive fleet. Until then, I'm sure you can let me go back to my ship peacefully, under this innocent flag of negotiation and surrender?" He waved his scrap of white cloth mockingly in the air. "After all, I'm just a mere messenger."

Zuko nodded tightly, understanding that under the codes of honor applied to naval battles, the white flag was an undisputed token of cease-fire, used to send messages, truces, and negotiations across the battlefield from one commander to the other.

Rishku motioned at Lundo, and the little rowboat rose up quickly on white foaming waves and sped off through the fleet back to the pirate ships at an incredible speed.

Zuko and Katara watched him leave wordlessly as behind them, Captain Raku, Uncle Iroh, and several other officers stormed into the room. They joined Zuko and Katara at the window, watching the pirate speed away.

* * *

Upon arriving back at his pirate fleet, Rishku addressed his crew. "Take what you want, kill who you want. But I get the girl. Do you sons of bitches understand that?" 

His crew nodded silently.

"Nobody touches her but me."

The message would be repeated and sent to the four other ships in his small fleet by the end of the 3 designated hours until battle.

* * *

Back on the _Golden Flame_, Zuko's flagship, the Captain asked Zuko what their next course of action would be. 

The Prince answered simply.

"Prepare for a battle."

* * *

**A/N:** Jeez was that a long chapter or what! You should all be thankful. I am too, to you reviewers. I don't think any of you have any idea how much I depend and rely on your feedback. Really, thanks a lot. You guys are great. A thousand hugs for everybody. Seeing how this is already chapter 6, and there are several more important events yet to happen to our favorite Z/K couple, I'm really guessing that the end number of chapters is going to be 13+. Also, does anyone else think I need to take the rating up? I know there's a bit than the usual curse words in this chapter, as well as several references to sex and other things. It's already T, but maybe it needs to be M? What do you think? 


	7. Chapter 7: Almost, But Not Quite

**Title: **The Hunter and The Prey  
**Category:** Avatar: Last Airbender  
**Author:** RedNovember  
**Genre:** Romance/Action  
**Pairing:** Zuko/Katara  
**Rating:** T (PG-13) for now, but if I have to up it to M (or R) I will.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of this series. However, the fanfiction written, the plot contained and any original characters I write I do own.  
**A/N: **I think some of you took the whole changing-the-rating thing the wrong way. I am DEFINITELY not turning it into some sort of sexfest orgy. The only thing I am worried about is the language, and a bit of blood/gore/violence. But anyway, most of you thought it was okay as T, so it'll stay that way for awhile.  
**A/N 2: **With the posting of the last chapter, (chapter 6) I officially reached 100 reviews! Thank you guys all so much.

* * *

**Chapter 7: Almost, But Not Quite**

As Captain Raku and the officers left Zuko's room shouting orders at the top of their lungs, Zuko and Katara were left staring at the shattered glass on the floor and the metal cannonball lodged into the wall above the wardrobe. Without asking, they knew they were both thinking about the Pirate Rishku.

"Did you know him well?" Zuko finally said, breaking the silence.

"Well enough to despise him completely." Katara replied, scowling as she remembered the time he'd pushed her into the water, holding her down until Sokka had arrived to smash his face in. Rishku had stumbled away afterwards, clutching his broken nose, yelling that a _real_ Water Bender with potential would have been able to manipulate the water in order to escape an enemy.

Zuko frowned. "I wonder why he was so interested in you, then?"

Katara shrugged nonchalantly. "Probably the same reason I was interested in him. We're from the same tribe and neither of us have seen each other since he left. We weren't good friends or anything, but still, we knew each other."

"I don't think so." Zuko shook his head. "He wants to know specifically why you're here, and if he's anything like a pirate, he'll use whatever methods he has to find out."

"Aren't you being just a _little_ bit paranoid?"

"No."

Katara rolled her eyes, and moved to help him strap on his armor. "This is going to be the longest three hours of my life." She said, pulling the first strap tight.

"Not for me." He said, grunting slightly when Katara pulled one strap too tight. She said a quickly apology and loosened it.

"Three fucking hours." Zuko scowled. "Definitely enough time for us to get riled up and panicked, but not enough for us to plan and mount an offensive attack against him first. That Rishku knows what he's doing."

As Zuko finished buckling on his boots, a knock at the door sounded, and a soldier's nervous voice floated in. "Your Majesty?"

"Yes?" Zuko called back.

"The Captain and First Mate want you on deck _now_."

"I'm coming." Zuko said, and the soldier left. The Prince turned to Katara and pushed her back onto the couch. "Stay here."

"_What?"_ She hissed. "I'm going up with you!"

"No you're not. You're staying here."

She waved one hand at the shattered window. "If you hadn't noticed, this isn't exactly the safest place to keep a prisoner right now."

"It's safe enough. Rishku will be much too involved with the sea battle to come back here." He stalked towards the door, planning on locking it as soon as he left. "I want you to stay in this room. It's much safer than what's going to be happening on deck."

She stood up angrily, arms crossed over her chest. "Oh, I understand."

Zuko stopped, giving her a raised eyebrow. "Oh, really?"

"Yes." She glared at him doggedly. "You're concerned that your precious prisoner will get stolen right out from under your nose. You're scared that Rishku might take away the bait you need to capture the Avatar." She spit out the words as if they were acid. "You don't care for _me_, Katara the girl, at _all_."

He turned to face her fully, a stony impenetrable look on his face. "Exactly."

Zuko slammed the door shut behind him and locked it.

* * *

Katara paced the room angrily after he'd left. Something cold and hard had lodged itself in her chest, something that felt distinctly like hurt and pain and rejection. She refused to acknowledge it, pushing the emotion somewhere where it couldn't get in the way right now. 

For one whole hour, she paced that room, anger and hatred steaming up her veins. She'd been a _fool_ to think that anything they'd done together in the last few days had meant a single thing. The bed, the mornings, the talks. Nothing. She was a mere object in his eyes, a mere possession, a mere hurdle in his constant fight for something bigger.

The Avatar.

Compared to Aang, Katara was just a fly in Zuko's face. Something annoying and undeserving of attention.

* * *

Zuko was on deck, discussing strategies and supplies with the Captain. The five cargo ships had been sent on ahead with one warship to protect them. The large, heavy, cumbersome cargo vessels had no firepower whatsoever, and would merely get in the way of a sea battle. With the loss of 6 ships, they were down to 8, only three more than the Pirate Rishku's fleet. It was a bit worrisome. 

However, after a mere hour and a half had passed, the first cannonball shot from a pirate ship screamed over their heads and smashed into the first scout ship in Rishku's way. Zuko whipped his head up. He should have known better than to trust a pirate. When a pirate said "three hours", he really meant "whenever I want to".

Captain Raku strode among the sailors, bellowing orders and yelling at any sailor or soldier moving too slow. "GET THOSE CANNONS LOADED, YOU FILTHY DOGS! ARCHERS! GET INTO POSITION! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK, GENTLEMEN, UNDER ATTACK!"

Zuko stood at the railing, narrowing his eyes at the pirate ships drawing closer and closer. They were moving with a speed and agility that spoke of Water Bender control. They were moving much too fast for any of the cannons on his ships to get a good aim. The situation was quickly spinning out of his hands.

Two of the pirate ships had already reached their first line of defense, made up of two scout ships. The pirates, pulling up against the Fire Nation ships, quickly boarded them and set about killing any sailor who got in their way. The screams of pain and fear reached Zuko's ears.

In less than 10 minutes, the two scout ships were stained with blood and were quickly sinking from the large waves the Water Bender Pirates had pulled up and let loose over them.

Captain Raku stroke up and stood stiffly next to his Prince. "This is unbelievable." The aged captain said, watching the carnage with a grim face. "What do they want from us?"

Zuko, jaw clenched, gritted out "I don't know. The fame of destroying a Fire Nation fleet? The money? The supplies?"

Raku shook his head. "We're not a merchant ship. We haven't got any sort of treasure."

Zuko shrugged, eyes fixated on the Pirate ships which had finished demolishing the scout ships and were quickly racing towards the larger war ships.

The Captain turned to face him seriously. "Does Rishku want the girl?"

Zuko grew tense. He wasn't going to give up Katara for anything. Not even under a pirate attack. The girl was going to get him the Avatar. And the Avatar was his ticket back to the Fire Nation for his first return to his homeland after his exile, three years ago when he'd been 14. He didn't stop to consider that Katara might have been anything beyond a means to an end for him.

"It's not about the girl." Zuko finally replied. "The Pirates were going to attack us even before Rishku even learned of her presence here."

Captain Raku nodded and left.

Zuko stayed in his position, eyes trained on the pirate ships. The two remaining war ships of his fleet (The _Dragon _and the _Ember) _quickly moved to intercept them. The _Dragon_ fired on the pirates, but _none_ of them hit the targets. Rishku's pirates were skimming the ocean waves quickly, weaving in and out between the larger and slower war ships with an amazing agility. The Water Benders Rishku had with him were a definite advantage. Squinting, Zuko could spy them, dressed in blue and standing on the decks of the pirate ships, focused and in position for their water bending.

Soon they were through the war ships, heading straight toward the flagship. The larger and more ungainly war ships would take time to turn around and come back to attack the pirates.

Zuko clenched the wooden railing until his knuckles turned white. No wonder Rishku was so famous, and mothers used stories about the pirate to frighten naughty children. When Zuko conquered the world (and he _would_, he told himself) he would commission several Water Benders on each boat, in order to have the same advantages Rishku had. The pirate was definitely not stupid.

The pirate ships were level with the _Golden Flame_ now. As he sped by, the Pirate Rishku raised a hand and waved arrogantly and confidently at Zuko. Zuko wished he had a bow and arrow on him. He could shoot the brains out of that goddamn pirate and end the battle right now.

He raised his arm to signal the archers readying themselves on the sides of the flagships. "SHOOT AT THE ONES IN BLUE!" He bellowed, determined to destroy the Water Benders Rishku was using for his amazing speed on the water. "SHOOT THE PIRATES IN BLUE! FIRE AT WILL!"

A cloud of arrows launched from the flagship towards the pirates. Over half fell in the water, the pirates having narrowly swerved and avoided the attack. Earth Benders bent back the remaining arrows, but several made it through their defense. The pirates who had been shot fell over screaming. A couple toppled into the water, including one blue-clad Water Bender. One pirate ship slowed down significantly, having lost one Bender.

Zuko, grimly satisfied, raised his arms and enveloped the slower pirate ship with flames from stern to bow and top to bottom. Screaming pirates leaped overboard and the ship started to sink as the powerful fire from Zuko's hands quickly ate up the wood. The weak wave the remaining Water Bender called up was not enough to deter the fire.

The fact that he had just killed living, breathing, and thinking human beings did not weigh heavily on Zuko's mind. He'd done it before, whether indirectly or directly. He was a conquering Prince. Every command he gave, every order he shouted meant death at the other end for an individual. His fire and his sword were tools of death, and he never hesitated to use them when needed. Death was as easily as part of him as Life was.

That was something Katara would never understand, he thought emotionlessly. That girl was much too trusting, friendly, and _loving_ for her own good. Innocent was what she was. She had traveled the world and fended off danger with her brother and the Avatar by her side. Maybe she'd even physically hurt someone before in order to protect herself.

Even so, she'd never seen half the things he'd seen in his short, 17 year life. She'd never killed anybody. She had never felt her sword swipe through human flesh and her fire charring a body until it was nothing but ash.

Katara was pure. Much too pure for him.

Zuko felt a grim, dispassionate, and impersonal shield fall over him. Whenever he engaged in battle, his emotions were dead. Gone. Unavailable. He'd learned to stop feeling and stop thinking about what he was doing, who he was killing, and what would happen afterwards. No emotion whatsoever was present in his mind, body, or spirit. He was used to it now. In fact, he even depended on this frame of mind when he killed.

Otherwise, he would have gone crazy a long, long time ago.

Zuko looked down and noticed a lone pirate paddling desperately towards his ship, eager to reach safety and shelter before someone noticed he was still alive. Somewhere, along the back of his emotionless, killing mind, Zuko had the insane idea that the pirate was paddling paddling paddling towards Katara, to take the girl away from him. No. It wasn't going to happen. Nobody was taking Katara away from the Fire Nation Prince, not if he could help it.

Too bad. Zuko raised one hand and a cloud of burning flame enveloped the pirate, screaming and twisting in pain. Soon he was nothing but a chunk of charred flesh floating in the water. He wasn't a threat anymore, not to Zuko, and not to Katara.

* * *

Katara leaned out the empty window frame on the side of the ship, careful to avoid the broken glass. She had been watching the battle, and knew now that the Fire Navy was slowly losing. The Pirate ships were just way too fast for anyone to destroy. 

Until one ship burst into flames right outside her window and the men on it screamed and writhed in the fire. She gasped in horror but couldn't tear her eyes away from the ghastly sight. The flames on the boat were oddly beautiful in a way. Several pirates jumped over board, but most drowned from the arrows that were still raining down on them. One pirate escaped, and he paddled desperately towards the ship, anxious to get to shelter and out of the range of the arrows.

There was no question in Katara's mind about helping the man as he drew closer and closer to her. He was a pirate of course, but he was also a human and in fear for his life. She would be evil if she didn't help him.

_You're almost there_, she urged him on silently. _Come on, come on!_

Two seconds later, a ball of fire shot down from the deck above her and the poor man instantly burst into flames. His mouth dropped open in a scream. His eyes and his mouth combined to make dark holes in his face, gaping and terrified. His flesh was on fire, crawling with heat and destruction, and soon he was nothing but charred remains floating in the water outside her window. The smell of burning flesh drifted in through the window. Katara was utterly horrified and stumbled back, gasping for breath.

That image would stay in her mind forever. The picture of a man swimming to his death. Who would do something like that? The pirate hadn't been a threat to anyone. He was just trying to stay alive, like everyone else in this goddamn world.

She fell back onto a couch and made herself breathe, breathe, breathe. She couldn't stay in this room any longer. Katara rose up to the edge of the window again, averting her eyes in case the dead man's carcass was still there, floating in the water. It wasn't, the waves having washed it away from her sight awhile ago. Raising her shaking hands, she slowly pulled up a large wave. Building it higher and higher until it reached the window, she stepped onto the edge and leaped onto it. Her shirt and pants were instantly wet, but the water kept her floating on top.

Putting more energy into the wave, she pulled it up until she was level with the railing on the top deck. Looking around, she saw everyone else was occupied with the pirates and Zuko was nowhere to be seen. She quickly threw her leg over the railing and climbed on deck, releasing the wave back into the ocean. She ran across the deck until she reached a wall of barrels stacked up next to the railing. Katara bent down, panting, to catch her breath.

* * *

Soaring over the blue ocean, Appa pushed himself to his fastest speed at Aang and Sokka's urging. They had spotted the large Fire Nation fleet early in the morning, and were flying as fast as possible to reach it in time. 

Both boys were silent and incredibly tense.

"I didn't know Zuko had an entire fleet under his control." Sokka said worriedly.

Aang didn't answer.

"Katara could be on any one of those ships." Sokka continued. "How are we going to find her?"

Aang pointed, cutting off Sokka's words. "Look closely at the fleet."

Sokka squinted into the distance, then looked back at Aang, surprised. "Are they having some sort of battle?"

Aang nodded silently, his large eyes fixated on the scene, curious. They could see the charred remains of several wooden ships surrounding the fleet. One ship was still on fire, and there were numerous dots in the ocean, humans who had jumped overboard.

Both boys studied the carnage in front of them. Aang patted Appa, and the large flying bison swerved downwards, aiming for the large ship in the middle.

"That's the flagship." Aang said, a bit uncertain. "If she's anywhere, she'll be there."

Sokka nodded silently. The situation had changed. Obviously the Fire Nation fleet was under attack. From who, they didn't know. However, this could either work for or against them, depending on whom the attacker was. Zuko would be distracted, which was a good thing. However, if the strange, black-sailed ships turned on Aang and Sokka as well, that would create a bigger problem.

The two boys kept silent as Appa flew closer and closer to the sea battle in the middle of the blue, blue ocean.

* * *

The four remaining pirate ships had drawn up next to the _Golden Flame_ and pirates were boarding the flagship. Soldiers and pirates locked in battle as more and more of the enemy swarmed up the sides of the ship, determined to take control and get what they wanted. Screams and yells and battle cries rose up around him, the bodies of dead men trampled under his feet. The heavy smell of blood and smoke hung in the air. 

Rishku leaped up onto the side of the larger Fire Nation ship and surveyed the situation. He climbed onto a pile of crates for a better vantage point. His men were quickly overpowering the soldiers on deck, but he had no doubt that reinforcements were getting ready below deck. He'd have to find the Prince and kill him quickly, before the odds turned against them. But first he'd make that bastard Zuko tell him where Katara was, and what she was doing with him. He hadn't believed a word of their lie, about a stupid betrothal. The Prince wasn't very intelligent if he had thought Rishku would fall for the idiotic excuse. Rishku wanted to know why Katara was there, and he wanted to know _now_. It smelled of a conspiracy, and pirates could always make great profit off conspiracies, if they played their cards right.

Rishku finally spotted the Prince at the edge of the crowd, fighting Lundo, one of his pirates. The Water Bender wasn't a very good swordsman, and could do nothing when the Prince drew his sword swiftly and sliced off Lundo's arm. The Water Bender was left screaming in agony as the Prince deserted the now-useless pirate and searched for better prey. Zuko wiped his bloody sword on the shirt of a dead man on deck.

Rishku stood up with a crazy smile on his face. "Your Majesty!" He called, and Zuko's eyes shot up to meet his. Rishku was unafraid. The Prince was too far away to kill him with a sword, and Zuko wouldn't dare use Fire Bending on his own ship, for he would set fire to the wood easily, incapacitating his own vessel.

Zuko started to advance through the crowd towards him, intent on killing the pirate. Rishku gave him an easy and confident smile before disappearing from his previous position and losing himself in the crazed crowd of soldiers and pirates. He'd lead the Prince on, confuse him and wear him out until he was weakened. Then he'd kill the man.

* * *

Katara peered out from her hiding place behind the barrels. She could hear the screams and shouts of the men on deck, and knew the pirates had boarded the ship. Before she could dart from her barrels to another hiding place, someone grabbed her roughly by the hair and dragged her out, struggling and screaming. 

She kept on screaming shrilly before her captor drew back and slapped her _hard_ on the face. Katara shut up suddenly, her cheek smarting from the blow. She stared up into the face of a pirate dressed in a dirty green robe.

"It's a woman!" He said in amazement.

His two companions behind him murmured and elbowed each other. "This must be the girl Rishku was talking about."

The man in green turned back to her, face slowly widening into a mean grin. "Well, since we found her, I'm sure Rishku will reward us well for making sure she wasn't killed."

One of the men standing behind Green Robe shook his head. "I dunno about this, Gedu. Rishku was really serious about not touching the girl." He appraised Gedu's hand clutching Katara's upper arm. "And it looks to me like you're touching her alright."

Gedu quickly let go of Katara and threw her back on the ground, scowling. "You ain't gonna _tell_ on me, are ya?" He asked, his facial expression ugly.

The other men backed away quickly. "No way, Gedu, I was just sayin' that Rishku had dibs on her. And you know how he gets."

Before Gedu could provide an answer of any sort, the side of his head was smashed in by the hilt of First Mate Hurei's sword. The other two pirates scrambled to get out of the way. Hurei gave Katara a glance that said _What the hell are you doing up here?_ before chasing after the other two pirates.

Katara bent over on the deck, catching her breath. She averted her eyes from the mess that was Gedu's face, groaning on the ground. That had scared the _shit_ out of her. But what scared her more was what Gedu had said. Zuko had been right, Rishku was coming after her. She was beginning to wish she'd stayed in her room. The image of the gaping holes in the face of the burning man filled her mind again and she choked hard, trying not to vomit. Everywhere around her the sounds of men dying rang in the air. The heavy scent of blood and smoke clogged her lungs. She stood up shakily, her legs wobbling.

Looking up, she was greeted by the most welcome sight she'd even seen in her extremely short life.

Slowly realizing what this meant for her, she began to scream, waving her arms over her head like a madwoman.

"AANG! SOKKA!" She jumped up and down, excited beyond words. "I'M RIGHT HERE GUYS, I'M RIGHT HERE! AANG! SOKKA! I'M HERE!"

* * *

Zuko heard a woman screaming indistinct words in the distance, and looked up to see Katara jumping around on the other side of the ship. 

_Fuck_, he thought, _What is that crazy bitch doing?_ Slowly, his mind woke up from it's previously emotionless state.

Inside, he was unbelievably ticked off with Katara's blatant refusal of his orders to stay in the room. He'd locked the door too. How had she gotten out?

On the outside, he was perfectly composed, sliding his sword out of a dead pirate with a graceful elegance that was pleasing to the eye. He started stalking towards the girl waving her arms around on the deck. Rishku would just have to wait. There was a more immediate problem Zuko had to deal with right now.

He looked up at that second and was greeted by the most _unwelcome_ sight he'd ever seen in his extremely short life.

Knowing what the presence of the Avatar and Katara's brother meant for him and his plans, he quickened his pace until he was flat-out running towards Katara. Of course, he wanted to capture the Avatar as well, but that was clearly impossible what with the current situation involving Rishku.

The Avatar would just have to come back for his girlfriend some other time. Right now, Zuko wouldn't let _anyone_ take Katara away from him.

* * *

Rishku heard a woman's indistinct screaming out of the corner of his ears. His head shot up, knowing this had to be Katara. She was the only woman on board. He stopped his little goose chase with Zuko and turned back around, heading through the crowd for the crazy girl screaming and jumping at the other end of the ship. He needed to get her, and this was the opportune time, when everyone else was distracted. Zuko would just have to wait. There was a more immediate problem Rishku had to deal with right now. 

The pirate looked up at that moment and was greeted by one of the most _unbelievable_ sights in his extremely short life.

A huge furry white animal of some sort was flying around in the air above the ship, carrying what looked like two boys on it's back. Rishku's eyes widened, recognizing the famous Avatar by the sign on his bald head. _Unbelievable_. The Avatar _and_ Katara, in one place at one time. This day couldn't have gotten any better for him. He could kill two birds with one stone now. He was sure someone in the world would offer up a handsome price for the Avatar. Maybe even Zuko himself. The girl he would keep for his own purposes.

He would have to kill Zuko some other time. Right now, Rishku wouldn't let _anyone_ take this prime opportunity away from him.

* * *

Appa flew gracefully over the masts of the biggest ship in the Fire Nation fleet, his white fur rippling in the slight wind. Aang and Sokka kept their eyes fixated on the deck of the ship below them. They could see a battle raging on the ship, pirates and Fire soldiers hacking determinedly and ignorantly at each other. 

But Aang and Sokka couldn't tell they were pirates and soldiers. From up above, they were all just human.

A voice was carried up by the breeze, whispering past Aang's ears. He snapped his neck around, staring intently down at the deck were a girl waving her arms and screaming their names was standing.

"Sokka!" He cried out, pointing at the deck of the ship. "Is that Katara? Is that her?"

Sokka swiveled around, squinting at the figure on the boat. "I think it is! Appa, get closer!"

The flying bison made an agreeable noise and swerved down, passing over the tallest mast of the boat.

The boys could finally see the girl's features, and confirmed it was their friend and sister. They waved frantically down at her. Appa passed over the girl, climbing into the air again, making ready for another, closer pass around.

"We've found her!" Sokka crowed in joy. Aang smiled widely, and Appa made the last turn, dipping back down towards the deck of the ship.

* * *

Rishku sprinted towards Katara as fast as he could. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Zuko closing in on the girl as well. The pirate cursed. Zuko was more than halfway there already. Rishku had to find another way, or the Prince would get to both Katara and the flying Avatar before him. 

Striding up a large pile of disposed crates, he craned his neck around at the tallest mast in the center of the boat. A sturdy rope was tied to the wood. The other end of the rope stretched up, up, up, connected to the mast on the other end of the ship, next to Katara. Rishku grinned. Perfect. It would swing him straight towards Katara, where he could scoop her up and out of Zuko's reach in time. Quickly untying the rope, he grabbed on with both hands and pushed off the crates.

The pirate swung out over the heads of the men fighting underneath him, quickly gaining on Zuko. He was almost there.

* * *

Zuko saw Rishku swinging wildly through the air towards Katara. That pirate definitely knew how to use resources to his own advantage. Miraculously, the girl hadn't noticed a thing, completely focused on the Avatar, who was now coming in for a pass over the girl, most likely in order to pick her up into the air. 

Zuko cursed loudly. The situation had grown from incredibly bad to incredibly worse in the space of about five seconds.

He changed his direction, aiming for Rishku instead. He tilted forward, running at a full-out sprint now.

* * *

_Everything_ was hanging on this one moment in time. 

Three different forces closed in on one innocent, hopeful girl standing in the middle of a bloody carnage.

Zuko, Rishku, and Aang had her in their sights and not one of them was going to give up until they had what they wanted.

* * *

It all happened in the space of ten seconds. 

Katara's hopeful face shone up at Aang and Sokka as Appa quickly closed the distance between them. Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed the two men racing towards her. One swinging on a rope, the other running at an incredible speed. Horrified to see both of them, she wished Appa would fly faster. _Come get me come get me come get me_, repeated the mantra over and over in her head. She strained up onto her tiptoes, reaching towards something she longed for with all her heart.

Rishku, with a manical grin on his face, swung through the final few feet between him and the girl. He reached out one arm towards Katara. _Almost there almost there_, he repeated to himself.

Rishku's fingers were exactly two breaths away from Katara's waist when Zuko's brilliant, red-hot sword swung out of nowhere and sliced the pirate's head cleanly from his neck, blood spurting everywhere. His last image before his optic nerves died was Zuko's scarred face, splattered with his own blood.

Sokka turned his eyes away from the gruesome sight of a headless body swinging around on a rope and reached down desperately for his sister. He strained, his arm stretching for Katara's hands.

Zuko, an ugly hatred-filled expression distorting his face, swung around to see Sokka's arm reaching down for his sister.

_Nononono iwon'tletyoutouchher DON'T TOUCH HER_.

The two siblings' fingertips touched ever so slightly and Zuko moved forward, slicing his already-bloodied sword deep into the flesh of Sokka's forearm.

Everything happened at once.

Sokka screamed in agony, Katara gasped as her brother's blood spilled onto her, Zuko grabbed her violently around the waist, and Appa lifted up and away into the sky. Aang looked back down at Katara's horrified face, disappointment filling him to bursting. Sokka clutched his mangled and bloody arm to his chest, knowing that their rescue attempt had failed. He stared back down at his sister's terrified and tearful face, feeling like the worst brother in the world.

Zuko pointed, and twenty archers and one cannon turned, aimed, and fired at the flying bison. Appa roared in pain as arrows pierced his fur and the metal cannonball lodged itself deep into one of his six legs. He continued to fly off, bright red bison blood dripping onto the deck of the _Golden Flame_.

* * *

Zuko, his face contorted with anger, violently hauled a screaming Katara to her feet, half-dragging, half-carrying her across the deck and back to his room. 

The sobbing girl refused to walk, and so Zuko had to drag her down the stairs, bruising her body. She slammed to the bottom, before rising up and starting to hit him with her fists and feet. He ignored the flurry of violence from her, barely noticing it at all while he unlocked the door. Bending down to drag her up under the arms, he physically picked her up and threw her into the room.

Katara landed violently on the floor, crashing into the armchairs and the desk, knocking a table aside and breaking a lamp before coming to a stop, motionless and breathless. She hurt _all_ over. Shutting her eyes tightly, she moaned in pain, the sharp corners of furniture digging into her ribs and legs.

Opening her eyes, she glared hatefully at Zuko, who quickly stalked forward and yanked her up by her neck. She choked, all her bravery fled and primitive terror filled her mind as _that man_ leaned close until their noses brushed each other.

"Next time, _bitch_, you will listen and follow every single fucking order I give you, do you understand?" He hissed, his scarred face completely distorted by ugly emotion.

She simply sputtered. His hand clenched tighter on her delicate, fragile neck. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he reasoned that if he put just a bit more pressure on her skin, he could simply break her. It'd be as easy as shattering glass.

"_Do you understand?_" He roared in her face.

Katara finally choked out a "_Yes_" around the pressure on her throat.

He finally let go, staring down at her as she gasped and heaved, her hand coming up to rub her neck gingerly. He'd left bruises on her skin, he noticed absentmindedly.

Katara refused to meet his eyes, tears gathering in her own and slowly dripping onto the expensive red carpet. The liquid reflected the color of the rug, creating the illusion that the tears falling from her eyes were made of brilliant blood.

He looked up at the broken window and knew this was how she had escaped last time. Stalking over to his wardrobe, he yanked out his extra set of armor and threw it at the shattered window. In mid-flight, he sent a blast of fire at it, so that when it came in contact with the wooden window frame around the gaping hole, it melted slightly, the edges turning into liquid medal.

As it cooled, the metal adhered to the edges of the shattered window, creating an ugly scar in the elegant furnishings of the room. But it did cover the hole effectively.

He turned to Katara again. "You won't be leaving for awhile."

Zuko slammed the door as he went out, and locked all four locks securely, double-checking each one. Then he climbed the stairs to the top deck. There was still the little problem of pirates on his ship. And somebody would have to clean up Rishku's body.

They'd have to find his head too.

* * *

**A/N: **If you didn't notice already, things are going to start getting a bit more serious from this point on. Before, in the previous chapters, it was mostly light-hearted and humor-filled. I'll still try to get some humor in here (especially with Uncle Iroh!) but I think this is really the point when it might start getting darker and maybe even a bit angsty. Just maybe. This _is_ the first fic I've ever written, and I do want to try writing in different styles and situations. Hope you don't mind. 

**A/N 2: **You've probably also noticed my updating speed isn't as fast anymore. I've begun to take more time to edit my grammar and spelling and making sure everything makes sense in the chapter before uploading it. I looked at some of my earlier chapters and some of the errors there just bug the hell out of me. As soon as I finish this whole story, I'm going to revamp and re-edit the whole thing over again (If I don't get occupied with something else first).

Again, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS! Based on all of your feedback, I'm going to keep it at T for now, as most of you thought I should. I wish I had time to personally reply to every single one of you, but I'm a bit occupied right now, seeing as I have several impatient ideas waiting in my head for the next few chapters. Hopefully that'll satisfy you all! THANK YOU SO MUCH AGAIN!


	8. Chapter 8: Yesterday

**Title: **The Hunter and The Prey  
**Category:** Avatar: Last Airbender  
**Author:** RedNovember  
**Chapter:** 8  
**Genre:** Romance/Action  
**Pairing:** Zuko/Katara  
**Rating:** T (PG-13) for now, but if I have to up it to M (or R) I will.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of this series. However, the fanfiction written, the plot contained and any original characters I write I do own.

**A/N: PLEASE READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTES AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER! THEY ARE IMPORTANT, AND THEY ARE THERE FOR A REASON, BELIEVE IT OR NOT! Thank you.**

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* * *

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**Chapter 8: Yesterday**

_Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away  
Now it looks as if they're here to stay  
Oh, I believe in Yesterday…_

For two whole hours after Zuko had left, Katara lay on the ground where she'd landed. It felt like an eternity as she stared up at the ceiling, blinking salty tears out of her eyes. They dribbled down her cheeks, mixing with the smudges of dried blood on her face, creating muddy-red rivers.

It quickly became unclear whether she was crying blood or bleeding tears.

Her bruised muscles grew stiff long before she finally decided to get up from where she'd laid, jumped in a pile of furniture. Zuko hadn't exactly been thinking of comfort when he'd picked her up and thrown her to the floor, Katara thought bitterly.

She raised her upper torso above the table legs underneath her. She almost cried out in pain before biting her lips, afraid someone might hear. She didn't want anyone to see her in the state she was in now. Her ribs must be heavily bruised. She dearly hoped they weren't broken. That would definitely put a damper on her cheery mood.

Limping up from the ground, she stumbled over to the mirror on the desk to check the extent of her injuries.

An unwelcome sight greeted her in the cracked surface of the mirror. Her face was a complete mess.

Dark, brownish-red blood caked her face, shirt, arms, and hair. She looked at it all with a sort of emotional detachment. She didn't know whether it was Rishku's blood, Sokka's blood, Zuko's blood, or her own. She supposed it didn't really matter at this point. It was only blood, after all.

Numerous other bruises covered her body, including one placed high on her left cheekbone. She ran her hands lightly over it before quickly drawing her fingers away, wincing in pain. Lifting Zuko's shirt up, she checked the mass of purple-blue spots on her ribs. Just by feeling, she could tell her hip bones and legs were hurt as well.

Katara looked at her reflection again, checking the bruises Zuko's hand had left on her neck. They resembled a necklace of dark pearls encircling her throat.

"And he gave a necklace of promise to his true love." She whispered, remembering the line from a fairy tale she'd heard before. The irony of it did not escape her.

Unable to look at herself in the mirror any longer, she limped to the bed, laying down gingerly on the mattress. Sighing, she rolled onto her side in order to lessen the pain, as the bruises on her back were the most extensive.

Inhaling deeply, she took in the scent Zuko had left behind on his pillow from previous nights. It smelled of smoke and something else that pushed at her mind familiarly. She couldn't place the smell exactly. She probably even smelled like _him_ by now, wearing his clothes everyday and sleeping in his bed every night. The notion wasn't disgusting to her. Just sad.

She closed her eyes tightly, and wondered sorrowfully to herself how things could have changed so dramatically in one day. This morning she had been lying in this bed, in the comfortable embrace of _that man_. And now she was lying in the bed again, alone, hurting from pain given to her by the same man who had held her so close that very morning.

She pushed all her thoughts away, wishing the black darkness of sleep would come quicker, and that it would bring her respite from all her pain.

* * *

Zuko surveyed the men toiling to clean the bodies of the dead from his ship with cool, dispassionate eyes. They'd found Rishku's head earlier, and the Prince had burned it to cinders before tossing the rest of the pirate's remains overboard into the ocean as food for the sharks. 

The blood would take awhile to scrub from the previously gleaming decks, he noted. Such were the disadvantages of war.

Soon after the pirates had figured out their leader was dead, they'd fallen into panicked disarray, each fighting to save his own life and escape on the pirate ships as fast as possible.

This made killing them all the easier for Zuko's soldiers. Any pirates who managed to get back on their ship were also deterred when their vessels all of a sudden burst into flames.

Zuko watched the chaos, admiring the way that his fire burned, crackled, destroyed, and killed. The flames rose higher and higher, climbing to a zenith before the wood under it collapsed from the strain and broke down. It made a screaming sound as the wood creaked and snapped, and all the nuts and bolts unscrewed and melted. It finally sank, almost in relief, back into the soothing embrace of the water, an escape from the all-consuming fire.

He watched this all with an air of cold disdain. His previous, red-hot rage had subsided, and he couldn't help but think of his earlier actions. He watched his own blood-crusted hands clench and unclench on his red-stained sword. He'd have to clean it soon, to keep it from rusting, Zuko thought absentmindedly.

He refused to entertain the notion that he might actually regret some of the things he'd just done. A Prince never regretted his actions. A good Prince did the right thing for his nation, no matter what the consequences. He distantly remembered the horrified, dying expression on Katara's face as his fingers tightened around her slim neck. Somewhere in his mind, he screamed at himself and _knew_ he was the evilest bastard on the planet. He had practically killed Katara when he lost control of his emotions.

That was one thing that no other element understood about Fire Benders. Theirs was an element fueled by passion and intensity. Anger, Hatred, Happiness, and Love were all part of the overwhelming power of fire. Anger was the easiest emotion to come by for most people, and so that was the reason why majority of the weaker Fire Benders could easily lose control over their element. Love was the hardest to summon. Controlling your fire meant controlling your emotions.

If you lost control of your feelings, you lost control of your fire.

And Zuko had lost control. He'd done it many times as a young child, when he had been learning the basics of Fire Bending. But he was a young man now, and he should have already learned to keep everything in check.

Katara would never understand how it felt to have that heat inside him, driving into every corner of his body from his heart and building up hotter and hotter and _hotter_ until he just had to release it. She was a Water Bender, a soothing, caring, healing element that could rock you to sleep as gently as if you were a babe in your mother's arms. But, of course, it could also destroy. Whipping up rain storms and tsunamis in a fury that was doom for anybody who got in their way. It was double-sided, as was every element on Earth.

Fire was like that as well. One could easily summon up anger and hatred when fighting an enemy, releasing all that pent-up emotion in a flurry of flame. But, if the Fire Bender was happy or in love, that heat was released as a beautiful warmth, caring and soothing, brushing away the cold chill on a winter's night. Because of all that passion, Fire Benders went one step further in everything. They hated more, angered easier, could be happy to the point of ecstasy, and loved with an incredible intensity.

Everything was double-sided. Everything had it's own duality. It was all just a matter of how you used the power.

With fire, everything burns bright and beautiful and powerful. But after the fire, after all the passion and heat burn out, everything is black, cold, and dead.

And so it is with the Fire Benders. After his energy and emotion had run out, burned straight through, Zuko felt empty and dead inside. There was nothing left after the heat of his anger but cold, dead cinders.

He sighed slowly, finally coming to terms with his actions. It was a good thing he hadn't set fire to Katara. It was a very good thing.

Then he straightened up, expression turning flinty again. No. He didn't regret one single thing he'd done today. He'd done it all for his Nation. He was a Prince. He had obligations. Really, he shouldn't have been feeling any remorse for what he'd done. It was simple. If she hadn't tried to escape, he wouldn't have had to hurt her. She would do well to remember who was the hunter here, and who was the prey.

Katara had deserved what she got.

Feeling much more assured of himself now, Zuko turned his attention back to discussing more important matters than Katara. Things like damages and losses and how they were going to repair everything.

* * *

Iroh came up behind his nephew, sword swinging tiredly from one hand. He tapped Zuko's shoulder, interrupting the Prince's conversation with Captain Raku. 

"Yes, Uncle?" Zuko's eyes were guarded, closed.

Iroh could tell there wasn't going to be any family lovin' happening around here anytime soon. His nephew was in one of his leader moods. Meaning he was more likely to kill someone than to laugh at one of his Uncle's jokes today.

"Where's the girl?" Iroh inquired, slightly worried. He hadn't seen Katara during the battle because he had been to busy hacking at pirates and defending the ship. He hoped she'd stayed below decks, safe and protected. But after the battle, he'd heard from several soldiers about the interaction between his nephew and the girl, but they'd been vague on details. Still, it was worrisome. "I hope she's not hurt, Zuko." He finished.

Both of them knew it wasn't only the pirates Iroh was talking about. Something angry lurked behind Zuko's eyes.

"She's… not hurt." The prince seemed to have a bit of difficulty getting the words out. "She's in my room."

"Can I see her?" Iroh said easily, holding his hand out for the key.

Zuko gave him an "of course" nod while his hand reached up for the key where it lay beneath his shirt. He was about to take it out and give it to his uncle when his hand stilled suddenly. Zuko's eyes glazed over and focused on some faraway spot beyond Iroh. His hand fell, empty, to his side again.

"No." Zuko said smoothly.

Iroh wasn't sure he'd heard the words right at first, then blinked confusedly. "What?"

"No." Zuko repeated calmly, eyes still fixated on a point behind Iroh. Iroh resisted the sudden urge to whip around and see for himself what his nephew was staring at. But he also knew that if he turned around, he'd see nothing but empty air. It was something only Zuko could see, something that existed only in his nephew's mind.

"Wh-Why not?" The older man sputtered. He _knew_ his nephew trusted him above all other people on Earth. Why was he keeping Katara away from his own uncle? Or, was he keeping Katara away from the rest of the world?

"Because, Uncle," Zuko said in a perfectly reasonable tone, "I don't think she's ready for visitors yet."

_She's_ not ready for visitors? Iroh thought, or _you're_ not ready for _her_ to have visitors? And since when had his own uncle been a mere "visitor"?

But Iroh knew there was no arguing with his nephew, not when he was like this.

Turning stiffly, he strode off, knowing that Zuko's suspicious eyes were trained on him. Since when had the Prince been so possessive of the girl? And, not only that, but since when had the Prince been so wary of his own uncle? It hurt, surprisingly, that his nephew didn't trust him anymore. Iroh had thought they'd been much, much closer than that.

It was the girl, Iroh reasoned. Katara was changing the Prince in many ways, whether Zuko liked it or not.

* * *

Katara woke up at the sound of a knock on her door. For the briefest second, she hoped desperately it was Zuko come back, but, at the same time a terror gripped her insides as she dreaded seeing him again. It was the queerest feeling.

But she knew it wasn't Zuko, because he had a key and would come in without knocking. This knowledge left her both disappointed and elated.

She raised her bruised cheek from the pillow. "I can't let you in." She said weakly at whoever it was at the door.

"That's okay." Iroh's calming voice answered her. She relaxed. "I'll just talk to you from outside. Zuko wouldn't let me in anyways." He chuckled, an edge of sadness in his voice.

Katara frowned slightly in confusion. Zuko wouldn't let his own uncle in to see her? She asked Iroh why.

"I'm not… exactly sure." He replied carefully.

"He let you in last time, when he first brought me on this ship and locked me in this room." She protested.

A sigh from outside the door. "The situation's changed, dear girl."

Changed so much that Zuko had lost trust in his own family? It was all her fault.

"I'm sorry." She whispered loud enough for him to hear.

She heard Uncle Iroh settle down on the floor outside the door. "It's not your fault." He said. Sitting down, he leaned his head back a bit too hard on the door and banged a cut he had received from a now-dead pirate. "Ouch!"

"Are you okay?" She called.

"Yes, yes I'm fine."

A bit of silence.

"Are you?" He finally said. Iroh hadn't believed a word Zuko had said about Katara's health. So the distrust ran both ways between uncle and nephew now. Iroh felt bitter about the revelation.

"Well enough." Katara replied, trying to sound cheerful.

Iroh didn't press any further. Neither of them wanted to get into the delicate subject. It was like a painful wound that was only beginning to heal. Press hard enough, and it'll start bleeding again.

"Where are you?" He called again.

"In bed." She said into her pillow.

"Doing what?"

"Oh-" A slight sigh. "-just resting."

"That's good."

An even longer silence.

"Iroh?" She called, a bit of uncertainty in her voice.

"Yes?" He answered immediately.

"Sometimes…" She choked a bit, the sound was muffled coming through the door. "Sometimes I don't know what he wants from me." A slight sniffle. "You know?"

Iroh closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the door, trying to keep everything at bay. He felt tears prickle at the corners of his wrinkled, tired eyes. He really wasn't a crying sort of man. Not really.

The hallway outside Zuko's room was quiet, but the heartbreaking sound of Katara's tears floated through the door. She hiccupped once in a while, and Iroh knew the pillow was soaked with the crying girl's tears by now.

"I know." He said, his own voice sounding tight and strange in his ears. Maybe he was a crying sort of man. Maybe, once in awhile, he could be.

* * *

Zuko sat in a conference room with the top members of his crew, maps and plans and lists of supplies strewn about on the table before him. All the men gathered in the room were tired, and most were wounded a bit from the earlier fight. Everyone had deep shadows under their eyes, and few could keep from yawning. 

"This is it, gentlemen." He said, rubbing his forehead with on hand. "We are going to have to put in at a nearby seaport sometime before the week ends. We just don't have enough supplies to last us through, and we have too many wounded that need care that we can't provide on the ships. Almost half our vessels need extensive repairs." He pointed to diagrams of all the ships in his fleet. "We lost three scout ships, and one more is heavily damaged." He switched to another diagram. "Two of the warships are fine, but the _Ember_ is taking on water fast, and half her crew is kept pumping out water night and day, which isn't efficient at all." Zuko sat back in his chair, a seventeen year old commander worrying about a war fleet that most teenagers in the world would never be able to see, much less command. "The flagship is fine. A couple of scrapes, some small leaks, but we'll survive."

Captain Raku looked at him blearily from across the table, then raised one finger to point at several dots on the coast of the Earth Kingdom, parts of which they had conquered. "There are three choices we have for repairs and supplies. Menthat, we took over about a decade ago, a pretty extensive town with a sea port, maybe two, three days' sailing." He pointed to the next red dot on the map. "Konzu, good trading port, fairly new city of ours." And the third dot was "Yasid, not much there. More like a desert, really. Couple of wells and their only trade is the minerals they mine from the ground." The Captain turned back tiredly to Zuko. "So which shall it be, your Majesty?"

Zuko pondered for a moment, speaking out loud. "Yasid's probably not going to have much in the way of supplies. If they do have anything, it'll be outrageously priced because they need it for themselves as well. Konzu has good trade, but since they're such a new acquisition of ours, the townspeople will probably be more hostile than willing to help." He pointed at the first dot. "Menthat it is." He studied the area around the city. "It's surrounded by forest too, so timber for ship repairs will probably be cheaper there than at any other city."

All the officers murmured their assent and the Captain nodded.

Zuko took one look at all of them and slapped the table with the palm of his hand, rising from his chair. "Meeting adjourned. Set a course for Menthat tonight, Captain."

The room cleared out quickly, until only Zuko was left. He rolled up the maps and placed them in their tubes on the wall. He walked around the room, brushing dust off shelves before he realized what he was doing. He was definitely stalling.

Angry at himself, he blew out the lamps in the room and stomped back out onto the deck. Why was he _stalling_? Why was he scared of going back to Katara and confronting her tonight? _She_ should be the one wary about meeting him, not the other way around.

It was a clear night, and the stars shone brightly in the dark sky.

Zuko didn't notice any of the natural beauty in the world surrounding him. He walked back to his room, almost dragging his feet before he realized what he was doing again. Quickly, he picked up his pace and arrived at his door, pulling out the key and unlocking it. Now he quieted down, hoping Katara was asleep and not wanting to wake her.

He entered the room silently, shutting the door behind him. A lump under the blankets lay on his bed, dark, long hair drifting out on the pillow. It rose and fell steadily with her even, sleeping breath. He sighed, relieved. Moving towards the wardrobe (the cannonball still lodged in the wood above it), he stripped off his clothes and changed into a loose shirt and pants for sleeping. Zuko averted his eyes from the mess that used to be the elegant furniture in his room. He'd done that bit of violence, and he wasn't ready to face any of it yet.

Crawling as gently as he could onto the bed, he lifted his side of the sheet up to slip into, and couldn't help but glance at Katara. His eyes locked on her form, and inside, every guilty emotion he had felt that day swarmed up to fill his mind. He inspected her battered form sorrowfully, and he lingered on the bruises surrounding her throat, put there by his own hands. He almost reached out and touched her, but drew back quickly, afraid that if he even breathed on her, she'd break right in front of his eyes. Even in sleep, a sad look was on her face, not like the peaceful expression he was used to seeing when she slept.

Laying down with as little shifting as possible, so as not to disturb Katara, he shut his eyes and tried not to think about all the things he'd done that day. It didn't matter if they'd been right or wrong. He just didn't think.

* * *

When Zuko woke up the next morning, he distinctly felt the absence of Katara's warm body next to his. However, his arms were still sprawled out in a position of embrace, and the spot right next to him was still slightly warm, meaning that Katara had just gotten up, maybe two seconds before. That was probably what had woken him, seeing as he was a pretty light sleeper. He raised his head from the pillow and saw her sitting in the last undestroyed armchair in the room, next to one of the remaining windows. She was staring out at the blue water, the sun having just risen. 

She turned her upper body to face him, and he noticed her wince slightly. More guilt plagued him. "You were touching me again last night." She said calmly, her face a mask of emotionless serenity. He looked at her closely, and could see she also had several bruises on her face, including a particularly large on her upper left cheekbone. He refused to look at her neck.

Zuko didn't know what to say. He hadn't expected her to be so direct. This was what he had wanted to avoid last night. He cursed himself. Well, how was he _supposed_ to act? He _was_ goddamn sorry, couldn't she see that?

She turned her face away from again, looking out the window.

"Well, you just can't seem to keep your hands to yourself lately, now can you?" Her face was still utterly calm, but her voice carried hints of malice and anger in it.

He couldn't believe how guilty he felt. His eyes finally rested on her throat. It was probably just as painful for him to look at it as it was for her to feel it. He'd never really seen this side of Katara before, this side of her that blatantly told him she hated him.

A knock on the door kept him from providing any sort of response, apologetic, angry, or otherwise.

"Who is it?" He called, annoyed, from the bed. He made no effort to conceal his resentment at the interruption. He was already pissed off, what with Katara's little sarcastic quips this morning.

A meek voice answered him. "Uh, it's… it's me, sir-"

Zuko cut the voice off. "Who's _me_?"

"Oh, it's Kaz sir, I'm the servant who regularly takes care of the Lady?" The voice was even more frightened.

Before Zuko could tell him to go away, Katara spoke up. "You can come in."

He glared at her, and the servant came in. He hadn't bothered to lock the door last night, as he was positive that if Katara tried anything, even in her weak state, he'd wake up and know it. Three years of warfare and battles didn't make a deep sleeper of Zuko.

Kaz hurried into the room, and Katara recognized him as the servant who had been with her since her days on the scouting ship, when she'd first been captured.

As he entered the room, Kaz's eyes fell on the broken furniture, the damaged furnishings, the cannonball in the wall, the ugly scar of the armor covering the window, and finally, the dark bruises apparent on his Lady's face and body. His horrified expression was plastered on his face for all the world to see.

"Just some battle scars." Katara said, smiling gently at him.

He gaped at her a minute more before blushing and setting down all the things he carried. A washbasin full of clean water, breakfast food, and a jar of salve and several bandages. "His… his Lordship Iroh said you might need this." Kaz stammered, gesturing to the medical supplies. He kept his eyes averted, now obviously understanding why.

Zuko spoke, irritated, from the bed. "Thank you, you are dismissed-"

Katara cut him off, eyeing the servant. "Kaz is your name, yes?"

He nodded frantically in answer, meeting her eyes for a second before looking down at the floor again.

Katara stood up shakily, and limped over to the dresser. Kaz quickly moved to help her, but was stopped by a glare from Zuko. _Don't touch her_ was the clear and obvious message.

Kaz gulped and looked down at the carpet as Katara turned around, having completely missed the entire exchange between the two men. She held something in her hand, and when she pressed it into Kaz's hand, the servant felt the weight of two full gold coins. He looked at her, clear adoration and reverence in his eyes. She smiled at him. "Thank you for all your help, Kaz."

"Th-thank _you_, my lady." He stammered as he left.

The room was oddly silent without what seemed to Katara the endearing bumbling of the servant boy.

Zuko had merely thought Kaz was annoying.

"Why'd you do that?" He asked finally.

"He deserved it." Katara said simply, stepping over to the washbasin.

"That was my money."

"You owe me."

That ended the discussion.

He watched her wet one towel and wipe her face with it, smears of brown-red coming off on the white cloth. She sighed with relief as she gently cleaned her face. The feel of clean water on her skin was wonderful. There was still the problem of her hair though.

She turned to Zuko first. "Do you need-"

"No it's okay. You use it." He got out of bed and she turned silently back to the water.

Zuko couldn't _believe_ her. In his mind, he gaped in shock. Outside, he kept dressing. How could anyone be this… this _good_? He knew that if anyone had tried strangling _him_, he would have more likely killed them than offered them a chance at the wash basin. Even though she was in pain and decidedly angry with him, Katara still had the common courtesy and polite decorum to offer to share what she had with him. It was amazing.

He stared at Katara's back. It was a wonder she'd survived this long in the real world. Nice people usually didn't live very long. Everyone else took advantage of them.

Which was what had happened in this case. He had taken advantage of her status with the Avatar, and kidnapped her for it.

"Where are we going now?" She asked in a neutral tone, her back still to him.

"Menthat. We need supplies and repairs. It's about two days sailing." He answered, buckling on his sword. He caught sight of the medical supplies left by Kaz and stopped. Even though he'd all but _beaten_ her yesterday, she'd still had the courtesy this morning to offer him water to wash with. Bandaging her wounds was really the least he could do.

"Do you need help with the medicine?" He asked, their eyes meeting across the room. She looked away to where she was folding up the second towel.

"No. I'm pretty sure I can handle it." She said quietly. The unsaid _I don't want your hands anywhere near me again_ wasn't stated, but they both heard it in the way one hears the silence of unspoken words.

Zuko felt strangely disappointed that she had refused his offer. He simply shrugged and left, locking the door out of habit behind him.

* * *

When Zuko finally left, Katara sighed in relief and stripped off her clothes, cleaning herself thoroughly with the towel. She washed her hair last, and it was an immense relief to rinse out the blood, the tears, and the sweat from her body. 

She hadn't even felt or heard Zuko come in last night, she had been so tired. But this morning, when she woke up, they'd been together again, like all the previous mornings. She had hurried to get out of bed before Zuko woke, resisting the temptation to stay in his warm embrace.

To her, the tension this morning had been almost unbearable. The welcome interruption Kaz brought was partly why she'd been so grateful to him. Maybe she'd gone a bit overboard with the money. But why should she care? Zuko could pay for it all out of his own pocket. After all, he did owe her. For many, many different things.

* * *

Zuko strode out onto the deck, thinking about this morning's events. Katara's biting, sarcastic remark, her subsequent courtesy, that servant's interruptions, and her kindness to him. 

It was all very, very confusing. And the fact that his uncle had taken the time to make sure Katara received medicine just _rankled_ at Zuko. It made him look like the bad, uncaring, rash teenage boy, and his uncle look like the kind, caring grandfather-type person. It certainly didn't help Katara's opinion of Zuko.

But that was mostly all his own fault. After all the things he'd done, he felt empty inside.

He had to admit, it had felt _so good_ yesterday, punishing Katara and hurting her when he was fueled by the fire of his anger. He had felt she _deserved_ it, deserved everything she got for disobeying him and flaunting his direct orders to stay in his room. And her attempted escape! She had tried to _leave _him. That was what made him even angrier.

But afterwards, after hurting her, and after the fuel of his fire had burned out, he was left with an empty nothingness that quickly filled with guilt.

His personality was so like a fire. Hot, burning, flaming one moment, and he was all burned out, he was left with nothing but cold ashes and regret.

Sometimes it really sucked being a Fire Bender. Especially a Prince.

* * *

That night, they both went to bed at the same time. Neither of them tried to start a conversation. Neither of them said anything about their day. Neither of them said good night to each other. And neither of them apologized, for anything they had done to each other.

* * *

The next morning, when Zuko woke up, Katara was in her armchair again. But this time she wasn't staring out the window. She was staring at him, and probably had been for awhile. When he woke up and looked at her, she turned away, back to gazing out at the ocean. 

He wondered how long she had been staring at him for, and what she had been thinking. Zuko felt slightly uncomfortable. Had she wanted to hurt him, like he had done to her? Was she bent on deadly revenge? He couldn't help but feel a slight amazement at the thought that Katara could possibly want to kill him. Could she? And, more importantly, _would_ she?

After a second's thought, he brushed the idea away. The girl would never have the guts to try it. It wasn't her thing. She could never kill anyone, not even her brutal captor, Prince Zuko. It was… just completely beyond her.

Katara stared out the window at the ocean. She was thinking as well. The thought of killing Zuko had crossed her mind already. How could it not have, when every waking thought of hers since Zuko's "outburst" had been of her wounded brother and Aang? She thought of how easily she could hide when he came in at night and leap out a with knife, stabbing and slicing and aiming for his life? Of how, in the small moments between her waking and his waking, there was a sword braced against the inside of the wardrobe? A sword she could easily gain access to?

But, being Katara, she never really gave it much serious thought. The mere _idea_ of killing someone made her want to vomit. It wasn't something she wanted to do, _ever_. Even if she did try such an outrageous thing, there was the little matter of Zuko fighting back. If he had enough time between her attack and his reaction to it, he would fight back against her efforts, and he would most likely be the victor. He was taller, stronger, and knew how to use a weapon. She didn't. Her only advantage would be the element of surprise, and she wasn't even 100 percent sure about that.

It was all useless. All this thinking was useless. Her gaze locked on the blue water outside. She'd been in this room for two straight days, soon to be three, and it was a good thing she was on a ship. Otherwise she would have gone insane already. The soothing rocking motion of waves and water against the vessel calmed her. If she could actually _touch_ the water and swim in it and revel in the fresh air outside, she would have healed much faster than she was now. But it was a good thing just to feel it's embrace and see it's deep blue color. It kept her going. She was a Water Bender after all. She needed water like her body needed blood.

Katara turned just in time to see Zuko slip out the door, having dressed and gotten ready while she was thinking and staring out the window. Good. She was glad to be rid of his presence. Now she just had to make it through the rest of the day.

* * *

Zuko spent his day receiving reports and issuing orders. They were supposed to arrive at Menthat _today_ but what with the damages on several ships in the fleet, they were forced to go at a much slower pace, and it seemed that they would arrive tomorrow instead. It was a setback, although not major. Still, the sooner they could get their supplies and repairs, the sooner his mood would improve. 

Aside from his worries as a commander of a fleet, he also worried, as a simple human being, about Katara.

His guilt had grown over the last few days until every single waking moment not filled with thoughts of the current price of bread in Menthat was filled with _her_. It was very inconvenient, as it didn't allow him one moment's rest the whole day. He woke up every morning and the bruises on her stared him straight in the face, mocking him for creating them. He was the reason she wasn't talking to him anymore, wasn't joking like she used to, wasn't smiling like she used to.

And his uncle too. Since that day when he had refused to give Iroh the key to his room, his uncle had been cold and distant with him. It seemed to be his fate to push away everyone who had ever meant anything to him.

* * *

Katara could tell by the darkening sky outside that it was late evening. She had spent most of the day staring, sleeping, and thinking. Or trying not to think. It was all really quite restful. 

She finally stood up and stretched, wincing several times as her healing injuries voiced complaints. Walking over to the dresser where Kaz had deposited the medicine yesterday, she picked up the jar and rubbed the cool salve on her bruised skin. She would be forever grateful to Iroh for thinking about her.

Katara heard the door creak open behind her as she tended to her injuries. She kept her eyes fixated on the cracked mirror, and on her own face. Out of the corner of the glass, she could see Zuko stop and stare at her. He was back early tonight. Usually he stayed out later. She continued to ignore him, and dipped her fingers into the jar again.

She could feel him come up behind her, closer, closer, and closer until his chest was all but touching her back. She could see him behind her in the mirror, looking at her with a carefully guarded expression. Finished with her salve, she wiped her fingers on a clean bandage, refusing to meet his eyes in the mirror.

Zuko didn't know what was driving him to do this. He had been thinking all day of what to say to her when he finally saw her again, and now he was here, there was nothing left in his mind.

Katara stiffened as all of a sudden, she felt his hand drawing lightly up, up, up her arm. Over her bruised forearm and up to her sleeve his hand continued until he reached her neck. Her chest tightened with the feather-light sensation and she willed herself to be still, to not flinch, to not fall towards the _fight or flight_ animal instinct raging in her mind.

Zuko watched his own hand reach her throat. Once there, he gently drew a line over the bruises. She was unbelievably tense, he could feel her muscles under her skin. Rubbing his thumb softly against her throat, he drew it back down until his hand was resting solidly on her collarbone, between her neck and shoulder. Drawing in a deep breath, he leaned closer, until he was resting the side of his scarred cheek on the crown of her head.

"I'm sorry." He whispered as sincerely as he possibly could, with every bit of guilt he had felt for the last few days evident in his voice.

Katara stared straight ahead at the mirror. She could see the picture of the two of them. Him, facing away from the mirror, resting his cheek on her hair, hand on her collarbone, the perfect image of regret. She noticed her own tautness of muscle underneath his touch. Slowly, she relaxed until she was leaning against him, until they were finally leaning against each other.

"I know." She said softly.

Zuko sighed deeply, still not moving. How she could forgive him so easily he didn't know. But that was who she was. Katara, loving, caring, forgiving Katara.

She was definitely too good for him.

But before he could think or say anything more, she broke from the embrace and turned around to face him, putting a little more distance between the two of them. He stared at her, agape. Had she forgiven him or not? Was she still scared of him?

Katara crossed her arms over her chest. "When we… when we reach Menthat, you have to let me out of this room. I've got to get off this ship."

He continued to stare at her. Was she trying to _blackmail_ him? Did she think he needed her forgiveness that much? The crazy little bitch-

"I'm not trying to blackmail you or anything, Zuko." She stared intently at him. "I do forgive you. But I need to get out of here before I go insane." An honest sincerity bordered by desperation shone in her face. She was speaking the truth.

Zuko knew she wasn't blackmailing him, knew she wasn't lying to him. He convinced himself (against his better judgment) that she _did_ deserve time off the ship, that she _did_ deserve to walk on dry land again and meet people other than sailors, soldiers, or abusive Princes. She wouldn't try to escape from him. She wouldn't do it, because she should have learned from last time. He convinced himself this was true.

He breathed out, his decision made. "Yes, yes you can go." His gaze sharpened. "But only when I'm with you."

Katara could see he still didn't trust her. That wasn't a surprise. She didn't trust him either. Everything in Katara told her to forgive Zuko, that he was sincerely sorry for his actions.

But there was a little voice in the back of her mind warning her: _Don't forget what he did. Don't forget he hurt you and he hurt Sokka he hurt your own brother made him bleed. He took your freedom away he's the enemy don't forget don't forget don't forget…_

But she was already starting to forget.

* * *

**A/N: **Thank you again to all my wonderful reviewers! THANK YOU SO MUCH! Chapter eight already… I can't believe this story has gone so far. I never expected it to be popular or anything. I'm not even close to finishing up this story, so forget my prediction about it being 8-10 chapters. It's more like 15-18 chapters now. I've got everything planned down to the ending. Actually, the ending's not _definite_ yet, but I've got several ideas lying around… 

**A/N 2: **I know some of you might be a little dissatisfied at the lack of more Zuko/Katara interaction in this chapter, and I'm sorry about that, but I'm going to tell you my opinion. This chapter was really a behind-the-scenes look at the characters' thoughts and feelings towards each other. A real soul-searching (wince) if you want to call it that. I'm not going to have them one-sided like I've read in some fics, how Zuko is just a mean horny guy and Katara is just an innocent perfect girl. No. I think all these characters have full-blown personalities and I am going to take the time to go through each and every side of them. Angry Zuko, Responsible Zuko, Stupid Zuko, Jealous Zuko, Sorry Zuko, Nice Zuko. And, believe it or not, Katara has a nasty side too. She's not all cream puffs and sugar either. _And_, I'm not going to have them having sex by the second chapter (obviously, since I've already passed the second chapter). Nuh-uh. This is going to be long, painful, and drawn-out. Which is good news to some of you, and maybe bad for others. Don't get the idea I'm mad at anyone or anything. I've loved every single review and reviewer I've gotten so far. I just want to inform you guys about where I'm going with this story. Thanks!

**A/N 3: **Also, it was brought to my attention by several reviewers (namely PalominoMule and GMGirl) that metal is _not_, in fact, considered part of the Earth element, and the type of metal that Fire Benders use is special so that the Earth Benders don't have any sort of advantage over them (This is according to the official website, so it is, accordingly, official). If I may say so sincerely, _Oops_. I didn't know that before, and I'm glad somebody took the time to inform me. Unfortunately I can't change it now, but when I do go back and revise this story (which I plan on doing, as soon as I finish) I'll make sure to fix that and use a different idea for it. For now, I hope you can all just overlook it as a simple mistake. Thanks again, guys.

**Disclaimer:** The song "Yesterday" by the Beatles does not belong to me. I was listening to it while writing the beginning of this chapter and thought it made perfect sense. Yay for the Beatles.


	9. Chapter 9: One Step Forward, Two Steps B...

**Title: **The Hunter and The Prey  
**Category:** Avatar: Last Airbender  
**Author:** RedNovember  
**Chapter:** 9  
**Genre:** Romance/Action  
**Pairing:** Zuko/Katara  
**Rating:** T (PG-13) for now, but if I have to up it to M (or R) I will.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of this series. However, the fanfiction written, the plot contained and any original characters I write I do own.

**NOTICE:** PLEASE READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTES AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER! THEY ARE IMPORTANT, AND ARE THERE FOR A REASON, BELIEVE IT OR NOT! Thanks.  
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* * *

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**Chapter 9: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back**

_It takes years to build up trust, and it only takes two seconds for suspicion, not proof, to destroy it._

Katara took her first breath of fresh air in three days and raised her head blissfully to the blue, blue sky. How wonderful it all felt. Leaning over the side of the ship, she dangled her arms down towards the water far below her, and pulled up small streams of water to her hands, before letting them go, plopping back into the sea.

A heavy hand on her shoulder made her stop and turn around. She stared into the emotionless face of one of her black-clad guards. He shook his head no, side-to-side, slowly. Katara's lips thinned. Except for the four guards shadowing her every footstep, the day could have been her first perfect day out of her room.

She had woken up that morning alone in bed, and saw that Zuko had left a short message for her on his pillow. The note simply stated that they'd reached Menthat in the middle of the night, and he had had to take care of some business onshore first, before he would come back and get her. It had been simply signed, _Zuko_.

He hadn't explained about the guards. They were obviously part of some elite section of the Fire army, for they wore different uniforms and were incredibly professional. Iroh had met up with her for breakfast and explained that they _were_ an elite force named the Royal Guard and answered only to members of the royal family. During Katara and Iroh's breakfast, the Guard had stood behind her chair in a row, staring straight ahead at the opposite wall the entire time. Iroh left soon after breakfast, reluctantly tell her he had to finish up matters elsewhere.

Katara had spent most of the remaining morning on deck with her guards. She noticed there were significantly less people on board. Most of the officers had left to oversee business on land, and majority of the sailors were on shore leave.

She sighed, leaning against the railing and stared up at the sky, trying to ignore her guards without much success. Not that they were extremely annoying or chatty. They were just silent black shadows always on the edge of her peripheral vision. And now they wouldn't let her practice her Water Bending.

Katara scowled. They were definitely more competent than her previous guards. Iroh had also told her there were only twenty of them in existence at any one time. Which meant one had to be extremely qualified to be admitted into the Royal Guard. And once they were in, it was for life. Katara had been surprised. What if they wanted a family? What if they got old and couldn't work anymore? Iroh had averted his eyes, saying that most didn't survive to grow old. It was a very dangerous occupation. Katara surmised that if it was such a dangerous job, then babysitting kidnapped girls probably wasn't what they usually did.

"Then what _do_ they do?" Katara had asked Iroh curiously.

"Oh… just things."

"Like what things?"

"Things like… assassinations… and other important things." Iroh finished lamely.

Katara hadn't asked anymore about the subject. Iroh had left soon after, telling her she was looking much better. That was the only time they spoke of her injuries, aside from when she'd thanked Iroh for the medicine.

* * *

It was practically noon when Zuko came back with several other soldiers. He saw her lingering by the railing and tapped her on the shoulder. She was pleasantly surprised to see him, and he dismissed the Royal Guard with a slight nod. They saluted him and departed to who knew where. 

Katara followed Zuko back down to their room. "Where have you been all day?" She asked curiously.

He rubbed on hand over his forehead before dropping the large bag he was carrying on the bed. "Overseeing supplies and the hiring of men to repair the ships." He answered. "Mostly boring stuff, but it still has to be done."

They weren't exactly buddy-buddy with each other now, but they could speak comfortably without any awkwardness or tension. Zuko's apology had lessened the animosity between the two. Katara's eager optimism for leaving the ship soon helped as well.

Zuko pointed at the large canvas bag. "You'll find women's clothes for you in there. A disguise of sorts, really. You'll be dressed as a noblewoman, on an outing with her husband." He reached for the door. "If you need uh, any help, I'll be outside." He made a quick exit.

She grinned to herself. Why would she need help from _him _putting on clothes? Opening the bag, she found a red dress with gold embroidery, made of some light, high-quality linen material and a bit of silk for the sleeves. It wasn't terribly flowery or fancy, but fit for a noble's wife. She put the white silky under dress on first, then slipped the red dress over her head. It fit will enough, floor-length, tucked in at the waist, loose billowy sleeves that were in style right now, and gold lacings on both the front and back. It had a low, square neckline, but not low enough to be indecent. After all, she _was_ supposed to be married.

After the dress, she opened a small pouch in the bag to find some smaller items of gold jewelry. Nothing flashy, just a simple gold chain with a small ruby pendant and several gold bangles for her wrists. With a brief pang, she remember her mother's necklace, the one she'd lost so long ago.

Giving a small knock on the door, she called "I'm ready!" before untying her hair to comb it out with her fingers.

Zuko came in, quickly closing the door behind him. She watched him inspect her quickly, eyes lingering a bit on the changes the dress brought out in her, before looking away. Katara wasn't surprised. She laughed at him silently in her head. She'd been wearing men's clothes for the past week. Of course he'd be surprised to see her in women's clothes. Katara knew she wasn't any heart-stopping beauty, but she liked to think that it didn't hurt to look at her either.

Zuko dug around in the bag a bit more, before procuring what looked like a thin gold circlet and a sheer, transparent, red veil. She frowned a bit, having found the items earlier, but hadn't thought the veil would be necessary.

"You're going to have to wear this." He said, laying the veil gently over her hair. "All the married women do in Menthat." He placed the circlet on her head and it slid down until it rested in the middle of her brow, securing the veil in place. "Something about modesty, I think."

Katara shrugged. Whatever it took to get her off this ship.

"And… it'll help conceal your face in case anyone recognizes you. And help hide… the bruises." He finished a bit awkwardly. Then he grew stern. "I'm going to be with you the entire time, so don't try anything funny."

"I won't." She said quietly, then inspected herself in the mirror. The transformation was pretty good. She really did look like a Fire noble's wife. The veil was thick enough to conceal the details of her face and the bruises, but just transparent enough to allow her to see through it. She nodded, and brushed her hair from her shoulder, the bracelets on her wrist jangling slightly. Everything she wore was red and gold, Fire Nation colors. She really did prefer blue and silver… but beggars could never be choosers. Something she'd learned awhile ago.

She turned to Zuko. "Let's go."

Zuko let her back on deck again, and inside, she felt almost giddy with excitement at the thought of finally being among people who weren't all Fire Benders.

They walked across the deck towards the gangplank that led down to the wooden dock. Katara felt many eyes on her and knew majority of them wondered who she was. They were used to seeing a girl in grubby man's clothes, not a respectable noblewoman dressed as fit her position. With gold jewelry, no less.

A few minutes later, they were past the ship docks on the edge of the sea and entered the town, mingling in with the rest of the busy residents. They only had two regular Fire Army guards following them, enough protection for a noble and his wife. Katara's hand was tucked in his right arm, Zuko's left hand coming over to cover it. They looked the perfect picture of a couple out doing some shopping.

Katara leaned in close to Zuko, whispering in his ear. "Won't anyone here recognize you?"

He shook his head. "I've passed by a couple times, but I've never really been in this town before."

"But won't they recognize their Prince? I mean, by your scar?"

He shrugged slightly. "If they do, they'll just be even more respectful than they already are."

It was true. Many of the common folk in Menthat gave them respectful space as they passed through the crowds. She felt curious eyes on them, wondering who the lady was under the veil. She also saw several other veiled women outside, some with their husbands, some with friends or maids.

Slowly they made their way through the market place. Occasionally, officers from the ship would come up to whisper business or other news in Zuko's ear, glancing curiously at her. Once she even saw Officer Sakai follow Captain Raku up to them. She averted her eyes to the side while they talked, and felt his curious gaze on her as well before he finally figured out who she was. Then he turned away too.

Katara sighed. Really, it was wonderful to get out. All the people surrounding her were interesting, shouting their wares, bargaining, and basically living their own lives. But she'd like it so much better if she could just be a regular girl running around the market by herself, inspecting things and maybe buying something that caught her eye. She continually viewed her surroundings through a heady red haze because of the veil.

Turning back to Zuko after Raku and Sakai had left, she felt him press a small velvet bag in her hands. She could tell it was filled with coins by the weight and feel of it. She looked up at him curiously. "What's this for?"

He shrugged a bit, keeping his eyes above the crowd, watching their surroundings. "Something you can spend."

Katara held it uncertainly in her hand, unsure of what to make of it. But before anything else could be said, Officer Taru ran up breathlessly to Zuko.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Something urgent, very urgent… concerning the rebels…" He drifted off, bending over to catch his breath.

Katara felt Zuko stiffen beside her and release her hand. He gave her a look that said _if you try to run, many bad things will happen_.

She pointed at a fabric shop a bit away. "I'll be there." He nodded, and he and Taru moved a distance away into a small, shadowed space between two shops and bent to confer with each other.

Under the shade of the awning attached to the small shop, she picked through several fabrics. She wasn't really intent on buying anything, but she wanted to get out of the sun that was slowly heating her up through the dress and veil. Flipping through several stacks, she came upon a sturdy, plain blue silk. It rippled in her hands and she held it up to the light.

The shopkeeper noticed her interest and eagerly offered information about it. "Wonderful texture, yes? It would make a beautiful dress for a beautiful lady." He said, peering at her under her veil with an honest interest. She moved her head to the side, pretending to blush in modesty, but really trying to keep the bruised side of her face in shadow. "I'm sure your husband would buy it for you, such a beautiful wife he has like yourself." The businessman said earnestly.

She prepared to open her mouth to say that oh no, she had much too many dresses already and she wasn't going to burden her husband for another one when a tanned hand reached over her shoulder and deposited two silver coins in the shopkeeper's palm for the cloth. A confident man's voice came from close behind her, saying "Why thank you, dear merchant. I knew I hadn't made a mistake when I married my lovely Tara here."

Katara froze. She recognized that voice.

The cloth merchant smiled merrily and thanked them for their business. The man who had paid for the cloth grasped a shocked Katara gently under her elbow and lead her away from the cloth shop, exchanging pleasantries with the merchant. He pressed the wrapped package of cloth into her arms.

Katara finally regained her senses and dug in her heels, stopping suddenly. "Jet," she said, a note of disbelief in her voice. "I'm being watched, you know."

Jet, the leader of an illegal band of teenage rebels, turned around to look at her. They'd met awhile ago, back when she'd still been traveling with Aang and Sokka. "Hello Katara." He said, gazing at her intently through the veil. "I would've recognized you from anywhere, even in that get-up you're wearing."

She shook her head slowly. "I can't go with you."

He took her upper arm firmly in his grasp again. She winced, for he was pressing down on a large bruise. "I _can't._" She hissed.

"Don't struggle." He whispered in her ear. "I'm your husband. You're Tara now. We're going to go home, like a normal couple." He leaned back again, an easy smile on his face, tucking her limp hand in under his arm. "Besides, I already checked around. Your guards are too busy flirting with laundry maids to notice you've disappeared."

Katara kept shaking her head (_no no no I can't I can't_) but didn't resist when Jet drew her farther from the busy market, into a quiet side alley in a neighborhood district. She noticed he didn't say anything about Zuko. Had he seen her with the Fire Prince? Or had he come afterwards?

Finally they rounded a corner into a small alley. She stopped, pulling her arm back. She stepped carefully away from him. "I already told you Jet, I can't go with you."

Jet turned back to face her, a completely neutral expression on his face. "You _can't_, or you _won't_?"

Katara was shocked for a minute, before regaining her senses. "What are you _talking_ about?"

"I saw you with him, Katara." He said, moving closer and closer to her. She backed away slowly. "I saw you with that goddamn _Prince Zuko_ of the Fire Nation."

"I, uh, I-" Katara stammered, backing up until she pressed against the wall. "I wasn't-"

Jet lost his emotionless face. He was angry now. "He is our _enemy_, Katara! Need I remind you of that fact? What were you doing with him?" When she didn't answer, shaking her head side-to-side in denial, over and over again, he pressed closer. "What were you _doing_ with him?"

Katara finally lashed out, her fear and anger at being discovered showing on her face. "You don't understand, Jet! I didn't have a choice!"

He sneered. "Didn't have a _choice_, Katara? I _saw_ you in that merchant's stall. You were completely unwatched, your guards were busy, and you had freedom at your very fingertips. Yet you were more engrossed in picking out a nice color for your next dress than seizing an opportunity to be free!" He peered at her closely. "What's _wrong_ with you?"

"You _don't _understand, Jet, you wouldn't-"

"Oh, _I understand_, dear Katara." He said, snapping back angrily. "What did you have to do to win your dear _Zuko's_ favor? Did you turn in Aang and Sokka as well? Are they on his ship right now, tied up in chains?"

Katara shook her head violently. "Let me _explain_, Jet!" She said desperately. "Just _shut up_ and let me explain!"

"Alright." He stepped back, eyeing her up and down. "I'll let you explain, since I'm such a nice and understanding man."

She took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. "A week ago I was kidnapped by Zuko and taken on his ship. I _didn't_ tell him where Aang and Sokka were. But three days ago they attempted a rescue and failed." She stared at the ground now. "See? Don't you understand why I'm here now?"

Jet was silent for a moment, considering her. "Yes." He said finally. "I know you were captured. I heard word of it through several sources, a week ago as well. News was that Katara, the Avatar's friend, had gone missing, presumably captured by the Fire Benders."

Katara breathed out. "That's what happened."

Jet's eyes narrowed again. "But I still can't understand why you didn't escape when you had the chance."

"I didn't _know_ the guards weren't there, Jet-"

"More like you didn't _care_!"

She looked at him, shocked, then started shaking her head again. "You don't understand, Jet, you don't understand." It seemed that one line was the only thing she could force out of her mouth. She repeated it like a mantra over and over in her head _you don't understand you can't understand you won't understand…_

"You resisted when I took you away! You wanted to go back to that stupid, fucking moron _Zuko_! _He's _the reason why so many of us can't lead peaceful and regular lives, Katara! I really don't know how you even have the guts to _touch_ the man. He's completely heartless." He looked hurt and maybe even a little… jealous?

But all Katara heard were the insults Jet had said against Zuko. "He's _not_ heartless, Jet! I keep telling you, you don't understand the situation, and least of all, you don't understand _Zuko_!" She cried angrily.

The words hung in the air after she'd shouted them. Her hands flew up to cover her mouth, horrified. What had she just said? Had she just _defended_ Zuko in front of Jet?

Jet raised his eyes to look her full in the face. "Oh, and I suppose _you_, of all people, _do_ understand the great Fire Nation Prince? He's royalty, I know that. What does that make _you_, his favorite concubine? Or are you getting married sometime soon?"

Katara's face grew red hot with rage. She felt like slapping Jet, or hurting him extremely badly. "I don't _expect_ you to understand, Jet, but this is really-"

"I can understand just by looking at you!" Jet shouted and stepped back, eyeing her up and down. She flinched under his gaze. "You're dressed like a woman who belongs to a Fire Nation Prince. You look filthy rich." He flicked disdainfully at the gold necklace and bracelets on her body. "That dress couldn't have been cheap." He touched the red cloth. "And this," He fingered the small velvet bag full of coins. "What is he paying you for, Katara?" He finally raised his eyes to hers again. "Walking hand in hand with that bastard Prince through the market place like a fucking married couple. I can't believe this." He finally said, stepping back, clear hurt and disbelief in his eyes. "I can't believe _you_."

Katara couldn't find anything to say. After hearing what Jet had said, she was speechless. Did she really look like that? Did she really look like Zuko's kept woman? She was surprised Jet had even recognized _her_, the _real_ Katara. Katara the simply dressed, Water Bender girl who wanted nothing more in the world but the company of her older brother and best friends.

Had she really changed so much? If she had, she certainly had not resisted it. She had dressed in these fine clothes willingly, even asked to come into Menthat, had accepted Zuko's gift of money, and hadn't even _thought_ of escaping when Zuko's attention was diverted. She had just waited in a fabric shop like an obedient dog on a leash. What was she now? What had she _really _become?

She could feel several things. Horror at her own betrayal, and sadness that Jet was so angry at her now. "Jet, I'm sorry."

"Tell me that you aren't doing this willingly, Katara." He said, sorrow in his voice. "Tell me that you're doing something else. You're spying for us rebels. You're getting information for Aang and Sokka. You're there to assassinate Zuko. Anything. Just tell me anything but what's really going on." He took a deep breath. "Because if you are doing this willingly, then you're definitely not the Katara I thought I recognized."

"Jet… wait, I know I'm wrong. I know I am. It's really all my fault." She said desperately. "But I don't think you know what Zuko's really like. I don't think you can blame him. He hasn't been horrible at all to me." _Liar_ a voice whispered to her. _Liar_. _He tried to strangle you_. She tried to ignore it.

Katara wanted to change Jet's opinion, she wanted to tell him all about the kind things Zuko had done for her. His apology, his gifts, the peaceful expression on his face when she woke up in the mornings next to him, his gentle warmth and embrace. She wanted Jet to know everything about Zuko's good side, the side she had learned _did_ exist.

Jet's previously sad expression turned frightfully angry again. "That damn Fire Prince isn't _horrible_? Do you know what he's done, Katara? Do you know the people he's killed? Have you ever been in a real battle against him? He _kills_, Katara, ruthlessly and brutally." He glared at her. "Have you ever seen your precious Prince kill? He's an animal! He's completely heartless! He is utterly bent on the destruction of the free world and everything that stands against the Fire Nation!" Jet breathed heavily, stepping in closer to her, backing her up against the wall. "He's out to kill the Aang! He wants to kill your _friends_!" Jet stared at her. "He probably even wants to kill _you_!"

Katara tried shaking her head in denial (_no that's not true that's not true he wouldn't do that_) but found that all the good things Zuko had done for her paled in comparison to everything else she'd seen lately, and all the things Jet had just told her about.

She remember, painfully, Zuko's effortless beheading of Rishku, his emotionless face when he had violently cut Sokka's arm (_her own brother!_), his unbelievable anger and how he'd injured her by throwing her to the floor, and how he had tried to _strangle_ her! Zuko had tried to _kill_ her!

(_Zuko is a killer he is he is Jet is right I can't believe I've been this stupid I can't believe it he is a killer he killed Rishku he tried to kill Sokka he tried to kill me and he's trying to kill Aang oh I can't believe it I don't WANT to believe it…_)

She gave a half-choked sob and grabbed Jet's sleeve. "I'm going with you Jet, I'm going with you. I don't want to stay with him anymore."

Jet looked at her in satisfaction. She finally understood that Zuko was no good. He wondered if she'd been seriously brainwashed. But all that mattered was that she come with him now. He could keep her safe in the forest until Aang and Sokka arrived. He placed his hands comfortingly on her shoulders. He wouldn't let that bastard Zuko anywhere near her as long as he lived.

Katara bit her lip, still thinking hard about her decision and everything surrounding it. She shied away from thinking anymore about Zuko and grasped feebly at the thought that her freedom was close, so very close. She could leave with Jet now, this very moment, and no one would ever know. She could reunite with her brother and Aang.

But, of course, things were never that simple.

A soldier in a Fire Nation uniform ran around the corner, and upon sighting Jet and Katara in the alley, turned around to shout back at someone following him. "I've found her! Sir! I've found her! She's here! Along with that rebel leader!"

"_Shit_." Cursed Jet, and he grabbed her arm, pulling her away, down the alley. Katara moved slowly, unable to decide whether to flee or stay. _What should I do what should I do Zuko's here I should leave with Jet I should I should…_

Jet continued to drag her along behind him, and she finally picked up her feet and began to run with him. "Shit! They recognized me!"

"What?" Katara gasped alongside him. "They know you?"

"Yes. I'm the leader of the rebel band who's been plaguing the army for such a long time in the forests surrounding Menthat. If they catch me, it's the end."

At that moment, Zuko turned the corner and charged into the alley. His widened, and all he saw was that _damned_ rebel leader taking Katara away from him. How had she gotten away from her guards? Damn them _both_. But he'd get them. It was only a matter of seconds.

True, for all along the rooftops lining the alley Katara and Jet were running down, Fire Nation archers appeared, drawing their bows and aiming down at the two figures on the ground.

Jet stopped, turning wildly from side to side, searching for a way out. They were surround by the archers on all sides, and Zuko quickly advanced upon him from the direction they'd come from. Seeing the pure anger and hatred in the Prince's eyes, Jet grabbed Katara and spun her around, pinning her to his chest, facing outward. He drew a shining, wicked dagger from his belt and held it at her throat. She gasped in horror, clutching his arm, trying to pull the dagger away from her neck. He held on to it steadfastedly.

Giving the Prince a fake, triumphant look, Jet exclaimed, "Yes, Your Wonderful Majesty," the rebel leader said in a mocking tone, "I have captured your precious prisoner." He gave Zuko a sneer. "Just what are you going to do now?" Jet's hand shook as he clutched the dagger tightly. He wanted to tell Katara with all his heart that he would never cut her, not for anything, that this was just a ploy to get away from the Fire Nation army. But he couldn't. Zuko had to believe that he was willing to kill the girl in order to escape with his life.

And the Prince did. He slowed down, watching Jet warily. "She means nothing to me." Zuko stated with a false confidence. In his mind, he imagined carving Jet into tiny little pieces, slowly and excruciatingly, for causing Katara fear and pain. "I don't care about the girl."

Jet laughed wildly, drawing the knife up closer to Katara's neck until it cut through the veil and hit her skin. She gasped, struggling in his arms. "I don't either."

The two men eyed each other warily like fighters seizing each other up before a fight. From what they said, Katara meant nothing to either of them. Then why weren't they each making a move?

The uncared-for girl finally stilled in Jet's grip, understanding that struggling would only increase her chances of getting cut. Her mind flew to all different possibilities frantically. If neither of them cared about her, why the stand off? Why the tension? What were they each waiting for? If Zuko cared nothing for her, why didn't he tell his archers to shoot?

"I've already cut through the veil." Jet grasped Katara's china and forced it up to reveal her neck. Zuko's eyes focused on the bruises. Jet didn't notice. "It would be even easier to cut through the skin." He drew up the knife forcefully, barely nicking the skin. Katara gave a slight scream of primitive fear. _He wouldn't do it, not for real._

Zuko stepped forward before he could stop himself, raising a hand and shouting "No!" as Jet forced the knife up. His face showed fear now, along with the previous anger.

Jet grinned triumphantly. "She doesn't _mean_ anything to you?"

Zuko was forced to back down. "What do you want?"

Jet turned serious again. "First of all, tell your archers to lower their weapons." Zuko complied, giving them a signal. All the archers lowered their bows, but were still taut with tension, ready to shoot whenever their Prince commanded it of them.

"Second, I'm taking Katara with me."

Zuko wondered internally how the rebel leader knew who Katara was. How long had they been talking before he'd arrived? His suspicions grew, and he began to suspect Katara of betrayal as well.

"No." Zuko said sensibly, all traces of emotion gone. "I let you go with your life, you give me Katara. It's a fair deal. A life for a life."

Jet grinned again. "No, dear Prince." He said the title as if it were an insult. "Let me explain it to you so you _understand_." He said mockingly. "You let me and Katara go, and the girl gets to live, which is what you want. And I get what I want, which is my life. However, if I don't get to leave with Katara, then I'll kill her first, which means you don't get what you want. Then you'll kill me, which means I don't get what I want either." Jet smirked triumphantly, confident that he had it all figured out. "One way, we both win. The second way means we both lose."

"No." Zuko said again. "She gets to live, and she has to stay with me."

"Oh, no, Your Majesty." Jet said, smiling now. "You can't have your cake and eat it as well. That's much too greedy."

All of a sudden, Jet's eyes widened in shocked surprise, and Katara felt a _thunk_ reverberate from Jet's body and his hand loosened on the knife, releasing her as he fell to the ground. She climbed out hurriedly from under him, and discovered, to her horror, a poisoned knife embedded in Jet's back, thrown by the Royal Guard who had crept up silently behind him during his exchange with Zuko. The black-clad man stood motionless at the end of the alley across from Zuko. The Prince gave him an approving nod.

Katara understood that it had been planned out from the beginning. Zuko kept Jet occupied while the assassin crept around behind and stabbed him in the back. She backed away slowly from the dead body on the ground, scooting backwards on her behind, her hands covering her mouth. A red stain quickly spread from Jet's body and covered the dirt underneath him. He had been alive just a second ago! Just a second ago, only a moment ago…

Zuko finally spoke up. "Get this cleaned up." He instructed one guard as he waved one hand dismissively at the corpse. He refused to meet Katara's eyes, whether in anger or something else, she couldn't tell. The Royal Guard came up beside her and helped her up with one hand under her elbow. Once she was standing again, she yanked her arm away from the assassin and stared straight ahead. She didn't want the man who had just killed Jet touching her.

Silently, she followed behind Zuko back towards the ship. There was definitely no chance of escape now. Two regular Fire Army guards came up on either side of her and grabbed her arms, keeping her sandwiched between them with barely any room to move. She tried to jerk away at first, but they held fast. She didn't want them touching her. Fire Nation soldiers had probably all killed somebody at some point. She didn't want any killers touching her. Especially Zuko. He was a murderer.

They were _all_ murderers. She was surrounded by them.

In fact, she was a murderer herself.

It was because of _her_ that Rishku had been killed. If she hadn't been on the ship, and he hadn't been so determined to catch her, Zuko wouldn't have sliced his head off. (The notion that Rishku would have died eventually, mostly likely by Zuko's hand, in the occurring sea battle was one thing Katara didn't think about).

It was because of _her_ that Sokka had gotten hurt. If she hadn't been so stupid and gotten caught in the first place, her brother probably wouldn't have a bit ugly scar in his arm now.

And now, it was because of _her_ that Jet was dead. She wondered where he'd be now if she had never gotten captured by the Fire Benders in the first place. He would still be alive. If she'd never gone into that alley with him, he'd still be alive. She was slowly and surely killing every single man who got close to her and Zuko. Indirectly, of course. Zuko (or one of his minions) did the literal killing, either that or he gave the direct order to kill.

They walked back through a quieter section of the marketplace and Katara knew that eyes were following them, especially the woman caught between two soldiers. She held her head up with as much dignity as she could, but was still glad for the anonymity the veil gave her.

The whole way back, Zuko was fuming in his mind. On the outside, he looked perfectly calm and collected, leading the band of men and one woman back to his ship. But inside, he was raging to interrogate Katara on every aspect of her conversation with Jet. For they had certainly had a conversation. A million questions leapt into Zuko's mind.

Had Katara willingly gone with the rebel leader? Had she _told_ Jet anything? Had Jet threatened her? Had _she_ threatened Jet? Had she wanted to leave with him? Or had he been forcing her to? Was she on his side? Did she tell him anything about Zuko? Did she tell Jet that Zuko had been mistreating her? Did she lie? Who's side was the bitch on, anyways?

_How could she possibly be on your side?_ A voice in his head replied. _You kidnapped her, you threatened her, you hurt her brother, you almost killed her. What would make her possibly want to stay with you any longer?_

She shouldn't have left the shop! Why hadn't the fucking guards been keeping an eye on her? Good thing he'd arrived in time, or Katara could be who knew where by now! Good thing he'd _killed_ that bastard Jet, and gotten Katara back.

His anger and outrage consumed him so fully that he had to hold himself back from setting fire to everything they passed. In containing his passion and heat within himself, his own body temperature raised several degrees, and two Fire soldiers walking beside him soon found themselves sweating and uncomfortable from the heat their Prince was emanating.

For the rest of the walk back to the ship, Katara kept quiet. She mourned Jet's death inside herself. Zuko wasn't talking to her, and she hoped he didn't think she had betrayed him or anything. _You almost did_, a voice told her. _No!_ she protested against herself. _I defended him! I stood up for him!_

_He's not going to believe you. He's going to get angry. And you know what he does when he gets angry… _

* * *

As soon as they arrived back on the flagship, Katara lost track of Zuko and he disappeared into the crowds of sailors and soldiers on deck. She was taken back to the room. Once she arrived and was safely locked in again, she removed her veil and took off all the jewelry. She remembered Jet's words from earlier. 

_"You're dressed like a woman who belongs to a Fire Nation Prince…"_ And the hurt look in the now-dead Jet's eyes. _"I can't believe you, Katara."_

Katara sighed, rubbing her eyes with one hand and settled down in her usual armchair, pulling her dress haphazardly above her knees as she crossed her legs. She put her head back, wondering when Zuko was coming back and what would happen when he did.

* * *

Not an hour later, a click at the door notified Katara that Zuko had arrived. She stood up carefully, crossing her arms over her chest in an unconscious but obviously defensive stance. She was looking out the window again as he came in, and so was completely unprepared when he grabbed her forcefully by the arm and shoved her down in the chair again. She winced and cried out, for he had grabbed her bruise hard. 

He leaned over her, arms on either side of the chair, eyes burning hatefully into her face. "_What did you tell him?"_

She looked back up at him with as much dignity and calmness as she could muster. "What makes you think I told him anything?"

He moved one hand from the chair and she flinched to the side unconsciously.

Zuko gave a low laugh. She _was_ scared of him, though her face showed nothing at this point.

"What makes me think that you _wouldn't_ tell that fucking bastard anything?" He leaned in closer and she couldn't help but shrink back in her chair. "It's a good thing I killed him. Now the rebels will be scattered and it'll be so much easier to kill them all off."

"It's not a good thing to kill anyone." Katara whispered, eyes darting over his shoulder. She refused to meet his gaze. "It's never a good thing."

"Not anyone? Not even a murderer?" He asked her, questioning her ideas of ethics. This girl had the strangest, stiffest, prissiest morals he'd ever come across. "Wouldn't you be doing the world a favor by killing a killer?"

"Jet wasn't a killer." She was still whispering.

"But _wouldn't_ it benefit the world to destroy a murderer? That way, they wouldn't be able to kill anyone else, yes?"

She shrank even further into the chair. "Maybe not kill them… maybe just imprison them…"

"Wouldn't you be doing the world a favor by killing _me_?"

Katara finally looked him in the eyes for a brief second before glancing down at the floor again. She didn't answer.

Zuko gave her a small smile. "Think of all the lives you would save, Katara. Think of your precious Avatar and brother. You'd be helping them by killing me. You'd be helping the whole _world_ by killing me. So why haven't you done it yet? Hm? Why haven't you tried to kill me yet? You could save thousands of lives. Just by ending mine."

Katara had closed her eyes, shaking her head blindly from side to side.

"It's because you _can't_, right? You can't bring yourself to kill me." He gave her a strangely annoyed look. "You're weak."

He finally stood back up, moving away from the chair and Katara. She couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

He turned back to her abruptly. "But that's not the point of this conversation. We're not here to discuss our morals. I want to know what you and Jet were talking about."

"Nothing." She said, standing up too. She didn't want to be pinned in a chair again. "Nothing. We were just saying hi."

"It didn't look like you were saying hi." He said, glaring at her. "You were gone for a full minute, maybe more. And when I got there, you were leaving with him." He looked at her closely. "Was he making you leave? Or did you want to leave, Katara?"

She bit her lip. "Both."

"How could it be _both_? You either wanted to leave, or you didn't. Don't lie." He was getting angry now.

"I'm _not_ lying!" She said, her hands curled in fists at her sides. "Jet told me things. He told me things about _you_."

Zuko stood perfectly still. "What things?"

"How you're a _murderer_. How you're a _killer_."

Zuko instantly relaxed and gave her a mocking grin. "Like you didn't know that already? Or did you just need pretty-boy Jet to assure you of that fact?"

She wouldn't look at him, and crossed her arms over her chest again.

"You were there when I killed Rishku. You were there when I cut your brother. And you were there when I told the Royal Guard to kill Jet." He laughed a little. It wasn't a nice laugh. "You should have figured that out a long time ago."

"Then I was stupid." She said, turning her back on him. "I wasn't going to go with him, you know."

"I don't believe you." He stated, matter-of-factly.

"I told him things about you too."

"Oh, so was this nice little catch-up chat you two had all about me? Was I the only subject you two had time to talk about? I'm really flattered."

"I told him you weren't a heartless bastard."

The words were like a slap in the face to him. Zuko had no smart reply to that. Katara listened to the silence behind her.

His jaw worked, and he finally spit out "Well you shouldn't have. Because it's not true."

"You might think it's not true, but I _know_ it's true."

"You're delusional."

"Maybe I am."

"Why did he want you to leave?" Zuko finally asked. The conversation had taken a completely different turn now.

"Several reasons. He was scared for me. For my life." She finally turned to look at him. "He wanted to protect me."

Zuko felt the anger rise in him. Why couldn't she speak anything but praise of that fucking Jet? He completely lost it. "_I_ can protect you! I _am_ protecting you, from everyone else out there who could do you harm! _I'm protecting you, not him!_"

"Jet wanted to protect me from _you_." Katara said, looking him in the eyes directly. "Could you do that, Zuko? Could you protect me from yourself?"

And now he had no answer.

Katara turned her back to him again, staring out the window.

He felt like hitting something. Someone. He felt like hurting someone, felt like causing pain because it was the only way he knew to release the roiling mass of emotion inside himself. By inflicting it on others. All his fire and rage turned him against the one person in the room, the woman gazing out the window and she became the entire focus of his blurred vision. _Just let it out just let it go and you'll be okay just let it all out at her she's the problem she's the one causing this she's the enemy just let it all out…_

But his years of training and control kept himself in check. He forced everything back into himself, back into a dark corner of his mind where the fire would wait until it's next chance. It took everything he had, and he still stared at Katara's tense, straight back until his eyes regained their focus. _I just did, Katara. I just protected you from myself. I just did it, can't you see that?_

He turned around to leave. But before he could open the door, a scrap of blue cloth on the dresser caught his eye. The velvet money bag he had given Katara earlier was also placed on the blue cloth. He picked both up in each hand. The cloth was beautiful and new, but the money bag was still full.

He turned to her. "Did Jet buy this for you?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you just use the money I gave you?" He spat out bitterly.

"He wanted to buy it for me. I didn't ask him to."

Zuko felt an immense anger and jealously rise in him again. But all he said was "It's a good thing I killed Jet. It's a good thing!" He slammed the door shut behind him, before he could do any further damage.

He should've hurt her. She deserved it. She deserved everything for hurting him.

* * *

As Zuko left, Katara reached up with one hand to cover her eyes and she sat down shakily in the chair. She had felt the fire heating up the room behind her and it had taken every ounce of her strength not to scream, cry out, and plead to Zuko not to hurt her. She had been terrified for her life. But he'd handled it. And she was still okay. 

She wouldn't cry, not again. Anyways, now she was too exhausted to do anything except breathe. It took effort to just breathe. Maybe she wasn't as okay as she'd thought.

Was this what she was doomed to until rescue came, or something else happened to change her situation? Was she doomed to fight with Zuko, make up with Zuko, and do something to anger Zuko again?. And then end up fighting with Zuko, make up with him, and finally anger him _again_? It was like one big repetitive circle. That was all their relationship was. Fight, make up, anger, and fight.

She'd thought things had changed when he had apologized last night, and when he had agreed to give her a little trust by letting her off the ship. Well she'd destroyed every bit of progress they had made. It was always like this with him. Everything they did. One step forward, two steps back.

* * *

_Go back several days to events right after the pirate and Fire Nation sea battle…_

Appa was seriously hurt.

Aang and Sokka had to finally admit that the great flying bison wasn't in any condition to fly. Not for several months. The arrows and cannonball had had to be painfully removed, and afterwards, the little operation had left Appa in extreme agony and the two boys covered in bison blood. But at least nothing was infected.

"He needs a healer. An animal healer." Aang finally said, stepping back to watch the slumber of his great bison friend. "He needs to get better. And he needs a healer for that." The 12-year-old boy's eyes filled with tears. "He got hurt trying to help us."

Sokka rinsed his bloody hands in the small stream they'd finally stopped by. "I'm sorry too, Aang." He breathed sorrowfully. "The only animal healers in any sort of walking distance are in the nearest town. That would be Menthat."

Aang kept his eyes trained on the bison. "How long of a walk is it?"

"Two, three days. Maybe less, if the walker wasn't carrying any baggage and didn't have to rest at night." Sokka replied.

Aang swallowed painfully.

"I'll do it." Sokka said, coming up behind the boy and settling a hand on his shoulder. "I'll run to Menthat as fast as I can and get a healer for Appa."

"It's got to be someone we can trust." Aang said, accepting Sokka's offer. "There's people in the city who would turn us into Zuko as soon as they knew who we were."

Sokka brightened all of a sudden. "Hey! Aang, know who else is near Menthat? Jet is!"

Aang turned around to look at him, hopeful. "Really? Is he still in the area?"

Sokka nodded. "His home base is in the forests surrounding the city. And if he isn't at his base, one of his followers will be. I'm sure they have some kind of medical expertise. They have to. They've been fighting guerilla warfare with the Fire Nation soldiers forever. They've got to know something about healing."

Aang nodded. "That's a good idea."

Sokka gathered one water skin and two pieces of bread, half of what they had left. "I'll start now." He looked up at the sky, judging the time. "If I run at night, and only stop for short rests to eat, I can be there by evening tomorrow or morning of the day after."

Aang sighed. "I would do it, Sokka, but I have to stay with Appa. I can't just leave him." Someone had to stay with the great bison and made sure he was fed and comfortable.

"I know, Aang, I know. It's okay. I need the exercise anyways." He winked, looking more confident than he really felt. He walked over next to Appa and gently patted his head. "Hang on until I get back, okay buddy?"

Appa slept on.

With a good-bye to Aang and a "Be careful!" from the Avatar, Sokka took off down the small dirt trail that led towards Menthat. He paced himself, knowing he'd have to run through the night. It would be tiring and a bit scary, running by himself through the forest at night. But he'd do it. Anything for his friends. And anything to help his sister.

Besides, he thought, he could really use the endurance training anyways.

* * *

**A/N: ****I HAVE NEVER, EVER WATCHED THE EPISODE WHERE AANG, KATARA, AND SOKKA MEET UP WITH JET. NEVER IN MY WHOLE LIFE. IT AIRED WHEN I WAS WRITING THE LAST CHAPTER, AND I MISSED IT SO I COULD UPDATE.**

Why am I getting weird about this? Not cause I'm pissed or anything, but Jet is a big part of this chapter, and seeing as I've never watched the episode with him in it, I had to take several liberties with his character. I probably messed up two billion times on his personality, his looks, his location, his ideals. Everything. But I needed a character here who was close to Katara and I didn't want to go through the pains of making up an original character and having to explain a long-ass history about them.

So, I hope nobody gets pissed off that I might have messed up Jet. But really. I've never watched the episode. I was planning to, but I got caught up in this. So I'm watching it tonight. But I wanted to upload this before tonight so yeah... there you go. Hopefully, I didn't screw it up too bad.

THANKS FOR ALL THE REVIEWS! I LOVE YOU ALL! Tell me all your thoughts, comments, and suggestions. OOC? More action? More drama? More angst? Too much of something? I really do consider everything you guys say. THANKS AGAIN!


	10. Chapter 10: The Turning Point

**Title:** The Hunter and The Prey  
**Category:** Avatar: Last Airbender  
**Author:** RedNovember  
**Chapter:** 10  
**Genre:** Romance/Action  
**Pairing:** Zuko/Katara  
**Rating:** T (PG-13) for now, but if I have to up it to M (or R) I will.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of this series. However, the fanfiction written, the plot contained and any original characters I write I do own.

**NOTICE: PLEASE READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTES AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER! THEY ARE IMPORTANT, AND ARE THERE FOR A REASON, BELIEVE IT OR NOT! Thanks.

* * *

**

**Chapter 10: The Turning Point**

Sokka ran through the first day, the first night, the second day, the second night, and finally arrived at Jet's encampment on the morning of the third day. He was greeted with unwelcome news.

"Jet's _dead_?" Sokka exclaimed when Lyhan, Jet's second-in-command, met him at the entrance to the base.

"His body was found a day ago, floating in one of the sewage drains leading out of Menthat." Lyhan's eyes were red from grief and worry. "I really don't know what we're going to do now."

Sokka was silent for a moment. He and the rebel leader had never been good friends. Sokka even thought sometimes that Jet had been too overzealous and insane in his methods for freeing people from Fire Nation control. But he had never wished death on the other teenager.

"I'm sorry." He finally said to Lyhan.

"It's… fine." The other boy let out a deep sigh. "We can carry on for a bit, but I don't know if anything was revealed before Jet died. He had a poisoned Fire Bender blade buried in his back." Lyhan looked more murderous than sad now. It was clear he wanted to find Jet's killer and bring justice to him. "It was Fire Bender soldiers that killed Jet, Sokka. I know it was."

"Do you think Jet could have sold you out?" Sokka was a bit shocked.

"No! It's just that… I don't know." Lyhan said agitatedly. "I don't know! Nobody was with him when he died! I don't know what happened! I don't know if information was exchanged, if Jet wouldn't talk and that's why he was killed, or if we are all in danger this very second because Fire Soldiers are coming to attack us!"

"Just calm down, Lyhan." Sokka said, trying to reassure him. But inside, he was worried as well.

The other boy passed a hand over his eyes and tried to stop shaking. "Okay, Sokka, okay. So why did you come to us in the first place?"

Sokka's face hardened. "A few days ago, we were attacked by Fire Nation ships when we tried to rescue my sister."

Lyhan's face softened. "Oh yes, I heard. We are losing so many important ones to the Fire Nation it seems. Both Jet and Katara. One is dead, one is captured. Is she still with Zuko?"

Sokka nodded stiffly. "Unfortunately, yes. We weren't successful, and Appa was seriously hurt. We need a healer for the bison if we want to attempt any kind of rescue soon."

Before Lyhan could offer any sort of advice or help, a messenger boy came running up to the two older teenagers, panting for breath. "Lyhan! Lyhan!" He said, bending over to breathe heavily. "It was Zuko! Zuko killed Jet!"

Immediately Sokka and Lyhan both turned to the messenger.

"How do you know this?" Lyhan snapped.

"Zuko's fleet is in the harbor at Menthat, and we sighted him walking back to his ship with a bunch of soldiers and one Royal Guard."

Lyhan hissed. "A Royal Guard? It must be him. Only assassins from the Fire Nation know how to make the poison that killed Jet."

Sokka quickly intervened. "Was there anyone else other than soldiers with Zuko?"

The messenger boy frowned slightly. "I heard that he was walking around, escorting a woman on his arm. It was strange, very strange. We all know Zuko isn't married. And then later, when he went back to his ship, the woman was heavily guarded and held between two soldiers." The boy shook his head. "I don't know what that sort of strange behavior means."

Sokka's face was filled with a desperate hope. He had to restrain himself from leaping forward and shaking the messenger by the shoulders. "Did you see her face? Did you see the woman's face?"

The boy shook his head harder. "No. She was wearing a veil."

Lyhan swung back around to stare at Sokka. "Is it your sister?"

Sokka could hardly choke back the hard hope in his throat. "I find it hard to believe Zuko would let her off his ship, for however brief a time. But if it is her… it means she's in Menthat right now." He turned back to the messenger. "How long is Zuko going to be there?"

"I heard his ships were heavily damaged from pirates. He's there for supplies and repairs. Maybe three, four more days to complete repairs on his ships?"

Sokka drew himself up and knew he was going to be running again for a long, long time. "I have to go back and tell Aang. This is an opportunity we can't miss, not since we botched the last one."

Lyhan nodded. "I understand. Do you need any provisions?"

"Some food and water would be good enough, thank you. Oh and, if you have any extra medicine, that would be great too." Sokka showed Lyhan his bandaged arm. "For the bison and me."

"Right." Lyhan sent the messenger to pick up some supplies for Sokka. "Wait," Lyhan murmured to himself, then looked back at Sokka. "I may have something you can borrow. Wait here."

The rebel disappeared into the woods and reappeared a minute later leading two horses by the halters. "We stole these from Fire Nation soldiers about a week ago. We haven't got much use for them, because we don't do much traveling unless we need a disguise of some sort that requires a horse. They've been mostly sitting around and growing fat off our supplies." He handed the reins to Sokka. "Take them. Bring them back to us when you've got the Avatar. The horses will probably cut down your travel time by a day or so."

Sokka took the offer gratefully. It didn't matter that he'd never ridden a horse. He wasn't going to enter any competitions. He just needed the speed. "I'll get them back to you as soon as possible, Lyhan. Thank you."

Lyhan nodded. "Good luck, and I hope you get your sister back."

In less than five minutes, Sokka was mounted and racing off to retrieve Aang. His original purpose (the search for a healer) was completely forgotten. No offense to Appa of course, but the bison could heal for now without any help. Katara was in Menthat, and it was up to him and the Avatar to save her.

* * *

Zuko sat on the deck at the stern of the ship, and rested his forehead on his knees. The sun had set not two minutes ago, and he was tired. An entire day of counting and calculating supplies and repairs didn't seem like much work, but it was tiresome and took a bit out of a guy when he had to do it all morning. Plus the whole fiasco with Jet and Katara in the afternoon. And the argument with Katara afterwards.

He was definitely still angry at her. But her words kept coming back to ring in his ears over and over again. "_I told him you weren't a heartless bastard I told him you weren't a heartless bastard I told him I told him_."

She had defended him against Jet. It really was unbelievable. But Zuko knew that Katara would never lie about such a thing. She wouldn't make it up just to get on his good side. He knew her. Or he thought he did.

Besides, he wasn't sure why he'd made such a big deal out of Jet. The rebel leader was dead, anyhow. He wasn't going to make a difference anytime soon. But still, the fact that he'd come so close to losing Katara made it seem extremely important. And the fact that Katara could have betrayed him before he killed Jet. Would she do that? Would she give him information about Zuko's fleet and army? She'd certainly been around long enough. She could have given him numbers. How many ships they had, how strong they were, what their weaknesses were.

She wouldn't have done it. She couldn't have done it. She was much to scared of him to even _think_ of betraying him, because she was afraid of the consequences that would follow. Either that or she was so caught up in her delusional ideas about a perfect world where nobody was _ever_ mean to anybody else that she thought she had enough "pride" and "loyalty" to not betray him.

That could work. Except why would she ever be loyal to him? There was no reason for it.

Zuko shook his head, trying to clear out his mind. This was _Katara_ he was thinking about. Why was he thinking up paranoid explanations about the inner workings of her mind? She definitely wasn't devious enough to try to double cross him or manipulate him. She was just Katara. She wore her emotions on her sleeves, and did the first thought that came into her mind. She didn't take time to judge her actions and calculate her words. Not like he did.

Except when he was around her. Then he just seemed to lose everything.

He got up, wincing at his numb legs and slowly walked across the deck and down the stairs to his room. It was still a wreck, and one of the windows was still covered by his armor. He distantly thought to himself that if Katara had really wanted to escape, she could have just broken one of the other windows. Easy enough, really.

He entered the room and found it in complete darkness. Katara must have fallen asleep before she'd had the chance to light a lamp. He turned towards the bed and crawled on before realizing that it was empty. Katara wasn't in bed! There wasn't the usual weight of her body on the other side.

Zuko quickly got off and lit one gas lamp with fire from his fingers all the while thinking _where did she go? This room isn't big at all is she hiding?_ And the lamp flared into light. Looking around, he finally spotted her in her usual armchair, facing out to sea. She was asleep, her head lolling to one side. He noticed she was still wearing the dress, and hadn't bothered to change. Had she been sitting there all evening and finally fallen asleep?

He stood for a foolish second in the middle of the room, unsure of what to do. If he left her there to sleep for the night, she'd wake up the next morning unbearably sore and probably grouchy too. But he really didn't want to wake her.

He crept a bit closer and knelt down until he was face to face with her. In sleep, her face was fixed in a peaceful expression, her lips parted just a bit so that whenever she breathed in, she made the slightest noise. Her dark hair fell over one side of her face and she was curled up against one armrest, her slim body in a fetal position.

And it was at that second that Zuko realized she was beautiful.

It was no earth-shaking revelation or heart-stopping realization. It was just a simple fact. Simple, simple, simple. Simple that he hadn't noticed before. Simple that when he finally did slow down and really _look_, he saw things that he normally didn't see.

There was nothing more to it. She was attractive for a woman, and he had noticed. It wasn't like he was a eunuch or anything. He was a growing young man. Of course he noticed these things. And, being on a ship and commanding warfare for most of his teenage life didn't let him get out much and… mingle. Of course he would notice a woman once in awhile, when he got to see one. It was all primitive biology.

But what he did next was not primitive biology.

Gently, Zuko slipped one arm slowly under her shoulders and the other under her knees. In one smooth move he lifted her up from the armchair, her head slipping toward his shoulder. She murmured something quietly in her sleep and he couldn't quite catch it.

He turned around to the bed and put her down, hoping she wouldn't wake up. What would her reaction be, realizing that Zuko was carrying her in his arms? Half of him wanted her to wake up, and half of him wanted her to stay asleep. He didn't think he would be able to bear it if she woke up and started screaming in disgust. That would have completely destroyed his self-confidence.

Zuko pulled the blanket out from under her and covered her with it. His mind flashed back to the first time he had done the same action, back when he had first captured her. How things had changed since then. He smoothed the sheet down next to her, a million different thoughts running through his mind.

And then he kissed her.

Nothing much happened. For one, she didn't wake up. Secondly, no fireworks went off in his head, no brilliant flash of light, and no wonderful, beautiful letters spelled out L-O-V-E in the sky.

But he had to admit it was very, _very _nice. And most important of all, he didn't regret doing it. It had been an impulse thing. She'd even responded a little, just a bit, even though she was asleep. It must have been instinct for her. He sure hoped it wasn't habit.

Whispering his second "I'm sorry" into the sleeping girl's ear, he got into his side of the bed and pulled her close automatically, not even waiting to go to sleep before gathering her in his arms. Too bad Katara wasn't awake to hear his apology and experience her first kiss.

And Zuko went to bed that night feeling just a little bit better about everything in the world.

* * *

It took one day and one night for Sokka to ride back to Aang and Appa.

It took one hour to convince Aang to leave Appa for just a short bit in order to attempt a rescue of Katara.

They rode back, and it took a bit longer this time because Aang kept falling off the horse and they had to carry several bags of supplies with them. But all in all, they made good time.

They did a bit of research, asking around the market about sightings of the Prince and the strange veiled woman he'd brought with him. Nobody had really seen her face, except for one cloth merchant who claimed he had actually sold some cloth to the lady. He couldn't accurately describe her, for she had been veiled, but he did remember the way her light, grey-blue eyes had shone in the shadows of her face.

The merchant also mentioned the woman's "husband", and described him in a way that revealed to Sokka and Aang that Jet had been with Katara, for however short a while.

This only served to confused the two boys more. Hadn't Zuko made Katara pretend to be the Prince's wife? How had Katara and Jet met up? Had Katara and Jet talked? Was she with him when he was killed? What had they done?

What was going _on_?

* * *

The next morning, Katara woke up in bed.

Funny, she didn't remember falling asleep in bed last night.

She looked over at Zuko, who stared intently back at her.

Funny, she didn't remember falling asleep next to _him_ last night.

"Good morning." Zuko finally said.

She stared at him for a moment before rolling over, away from him, and out of bed. She stood up stiffly, brushing the wrinkles self consciously from her dress.

"What, no greeting for me?" Zuko said from behind her, sounding utterly relaxed and rested.

Katara was extremely confused. Why was he in such a good mood all of a sudden? Yesterday he'd looked like he wanted to kill her. He had completely blown his top at her and now he was acting like they were all close and happy together. What was wrong with the man?

_Damn_ him for confusing her.

"No." She snapped back. "No greeting for you."

She heard him get out of bed, rustling the sheets.

"Fine." He said easily, changing. He didn't sound upset at all.

Katara couldn't take it anymore. How could he possibly be so relaxed that he was in such a good that he UGH! Didn't the man know how to keep a grudge?

She spun around angrily. "What is your _problem-_"

But he'd already left.

* * *

Zuko left the room, laughing quietly to himself. Katara must be so confused. Well. If he had it his way, she'd never find out what had happened last night to put him in such a good mood. 

Maybe he'd tell her someday. Maybe once this was all over with.

He frowned slightly to himself. What _would_ he do with her after accomplishing all his goals? Then he thought to himself, _I don't have to worry about it now. The worse that could happen is she might die in the process. The best would be…_

Well he didn't know what the best thing would be.

"Hello uncle!" He said, coming up behind Iroh, clapping a hand on his uncle's shoulder.

"You're in a good mood today, Zuko." Iroh observed calmly. He wondered if Zuko knew that probably half the ship had heard him and Katara screaming at each other yesterday. Well, Zuko had been doing most of the yelling. Strange that his nephew would be in such a good mood afterwards. It worried Iroh. If Zuko was so optimistic, Iroh wondered what sort of state Katara was in.

"Beautiful day, yes?" Zuko said, before moving on.

Iroh watched him suspiciously walk away. He dearly hoped Katara was alright.

* * *

For majority of the day, Katara observed the activity on the docks of Menthat. Obviously Zuko wasn't going to let her out anytime soon. 

She longed with all her heart to join those figures scurrying around on land, carrying bundles and going on with their business, completely ignorant of her predicament. If she'd only listened to Jet. If she'd only grabbed her freedom when she'd had her chance.

If only.

* * *

When Zuko and several of the Royal Guards descended from the boats to finish business in Menthat, they were unaware of the stares they received. 

Mainly, stares from two disguised and heavily cloaked boys in the crowd.

Sokka watched the Prince walk confidently to the carpenter's business house, his lip curling in digust. His wounded arm shook with an effort to keep himself from pulling out a dagger in his belt.

"I want to kill him so badly, Aang." Sokka hissed at the shorter figure standing next to him. "But before I do, I'll torture him until he tells me where Katara is and what happened to Jet."

Aang nodded slowly. "We'll get our revenge. But first, Katara's gotta be rescued."

Sokka and Aang conferred quietly and made the mutual decision to wait until nightfall to rescue Katara. Under the cover of dark, they could avoid prying eyes. That part of the plan was as far as they got.

"So… what's the next step?" asked Aang eagerly.

Silence.

"I don't know." Sokka finally said.

Both of the boys turned to examine the flagship out in the harbor. Several Fire Nation ships were tied to the docks, undergoing repairs. But both Sokka and Aang knew what they wanted wasn't on the smaller ships. Katara was out on the flagship. This they had figured out from their last rescue attempt.

"Well," Sokka said, thinking hard. "We're going to have to steal a boat."

"Something with a sail would be good." Aang said thoughtfully. "I could bend the wind to get us across to the flagship quicker. We wouldn't have to splash noisily like we would if we rowed."

"Good idea."

"… Then what?"

"We'll need some rope."

* * *

Zuko sighed after all his men had left from the meeting. It had lasted two hours and had consisted of several loud arguments between officers and even escalated to the point of throwing measuring instruments at each other. Quite unseemly. But they'd gotten majority of all their troubles worked out in the end. They would stay in Menthat for two more days, until the last warship was repaired. 

Then they would leave for the Fire Nation.

He propped his feet up on the table. Zuko only did this when his crew weren't around. He didn't want them thinking their Prince was a slob who had no sense of propriety. Good thing he was alone.

He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out an ebony box, one he'd put there this morning after leaving Katara. Zuko opened it, and inside, nestled on a pad of black velvet, was Katara's necklace. She didn't know he had it, and he wondered if he should tell her about it. Maybe use it as some sort of blackmail, or threat to make her do what he wanted?

Slowly, he realized that the satisfaction he got when making others do as he wished didn't appear this time, not when he was thinking about Katara. Usually, using some sort of blackmail or threat to get victims or enemies to do what he wanted was an easy method of persuasion. It worked all the time. Threaten to kill a family member or destroy a treasured possession would always work to make his opponent agree to Zuko's terms. And he felt satisfaction, knowing that he had power of them.

But for some reason, the satisfaction did not come this time.

In truth, the mere thought of blackmailing Katara made him feel sick.

Damn it.

He snapped the box shut. The necklace was worthless to him. He wondered how much it really meant to Katara.

* * *

In the dark of the night, two figures huffed and puffed as they pulled themselves up long, thin ropes attached to he railing of a flagship with the words _Golden Flame_ painted on it's hull. It was Zuko's flagship. They were ascending from their stolen sailboat, bobbing around in the water underneath them. 

The taller figure on the right almost lost his grip on the rope.

"What's wrong?" The shorter one hissed.

"I can't… oh shit… my arm…" Taller figure gasped. "I think it's bleeding again."

"Come on! Just a bit more!" The shorter one urged his partner on.

"I just… okay, okay. We're almost there."

Reaching the top, the two dark figures threw themselves over the railing of the ship.

Before they could scream or move, two larger, black-clad figures emerged from the shadows of the ship and grasped the two struggling younger boys.

The captors were part of the Royal Guard, and they tied their prisoners securely with chains and threw them into the deepest, darkest, dankest cell in the ship.

"Shit." Was the only word heard as the two would-be rescuers sat in the darkness, cursing their predicament. "Oh, _shit_."

* * *

Katara heard Zuko come into the room behind her and tensed up. She'd spent most of her day fuming and swearing and had only taken a break when Kaz had arrived with her lunch. She'd made him stay for awhile, just to have someone to talk to, in order to break the monotony that every day seemed to be now. Sleep, wake up, argue with Zuko, stay in room, Zuko comes back, argue with Zuko, sleep. And repeat as necessary. 

Kaz hadn't been very good for conversation. He seemed to be in awe of her majority of the time, and it was hard to talk about the weather with someone who was ready to grovel at her feet and worship her whenever she said his name. It wasn't altogether _unwelcome_ or anything, but after awhile, it did get annoying. She couldn't help but compare her interaction with Kaz to her interaction with Zuko. Just the mere thought of _Zuko_ groveling at her feet was unbelievable. But Katara had to admit she wouldn't mind it. But it definitely wasn't ever going to happen.

"Had a good day?" Zuko remarked cheerfully, depositing his papers and bundles on the dresser.

Katara couldn't believe he was still in his happy mood. Goddamn the man. He was completely insufferable. Well, at least one person around here was going to be keeping a grudge.

"No." She snapped. "Prisoners kept in tiny, airless rooms all day by themselves usually don't have good days."

"Would you rather _I_ stayed with you all day?"

"_No_!" She said quickly. "That would be make it much, much worse."

"Fine. I'll just leave you to your queer mood swings then."

Katara couldn't _believe_ the hypocrisy in that statement. "ME? _Mood swings_? You think _I'm _the one with queer mood swings?"

He gave her an obvious 'duh' look.

She ignored it and charged on. "YOU'RE the one who completely blew a fuse yesterday because you had a little _jealousy fit!_ And now you're pretending like there's nothing wrong!"

His smile vanished. "A _jealousy_ fit?"

"Yes." Katara said in satisfaction, crossing her arms over her chest. She'd finally broken his shell. "You were obviously jealous about the attention Jet gave me."

"Why would I be jealous of that moron?" Zuko sputtered. "What has he got that I don't?"

"Well," Katara held up one finger, ticking it off. "Number one, I actually like him."

"Why would I want you to _like_ me?" Zuko spat out. (_but I do I do want you to) _Why couldn't she speak a single bad word about that fucking rebel leader? What made Jet so special?

"Number two," Katara went on, ignoring his comment. "He has strong leadership abilities."

"_He_ has strong leadership abilities?" Zuko was in a complete rage now. "He leads a band of fucking kids who occasionally annoy my soldiers! I command an entire freaking fleet, with several legions and a Royal Guard under my hands. How can you compare a couple of kids to that?"

Katara watched him intently. She'd said the whole "jealous fit" thing to tick Zuko off, but she hadn't thought he would have taken it this badly.

"I'm _royalty_." Zuko continued. "I have possess things and powers that stupid Jet couldn't even begin to dream about." He took a deep breath and couldn't stop himself from speaking the next words. "I could offer you so much more than he ever could."

Katara was speechless. She really hadn't thought Zuko was jealous. She'd only said it to insult him. Was he… for real? Or was he just joking around with her?

Too late, Zuko realized he'd fallen for her trap. Katara had made him admit that he'd been jealous. _Damn_ her. Why was it that he could never seem to keep control of his emotions when he was around her?

Quickly, he fished out the box from inside his pocket. Opening it, he took out the necklace and swung it from his fingers, the blue stone catching the lamplight. "He could never give you this back." He said quietly.

The color drained from Katara's face. "Wh- where did you get that?" She gasped. Was it possible Zuko had had her necklace the entire time? How could he have kept it from her? Didn't he understand how much her mother's necklace meant to her?

"I found it." He said neutrally.

"Give it to me." She said breathlessly, reaching for it.

He quickly raised it up higher in the air, her fingers feebly grasping for it.

"_Zuko!_" She all but screamed. "_That's mine!_"

"You compared me to Jet. You said he was better than I am. He's dead. He's completely dead and his body is floating around in a sewage drain somewhere." Zuko said clearly, looking her straight in the eyes. "At least I'm alive." He curled the necklace in his fist. "You don't deserve this. If you don't even now how to judge the value of two men, then you don't deserve something as valuable as your mother's necklace."

She gaped at him. What the _fuck_? Was he _insane_? Who was he to judge what she deserved and did not deserve!

"ZUKO! YOU FUCKING MORON!" She leapt at him, her hands punching him and grabbing at his hand. "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT NECKLACE MEANS TO ME!"

He fought her off like she was a crazed animal. Her light blows were completely ineffective against him. Her strength wasn't physical- it was in her control of the water. Using one arm, he pushed her off him. "Don't try to steal it from me." He said, carelessly brushing her off. "I already told you why you can't have it."

She continued to stare at him incredulously, fighting against his hold. Then she stopped struggling. Pushing away from him, she stood back a couple feet. "This is the difference between you and Jet, Zuko." She spat out bitterly. "Jet had _empathy_. He could _feel _emotions. He could sympathize with other people."

Crossing her arms over her chest, she glared at him. "He was right. You _are_ a heartless bastard, Zuko."

Zuko clenched his jaw tightly. "You said you _defended_ me against him-"

She cut him off. "Yeah. That was before I realized he was right. You don't feel anything. You don't care for anything but yourself and your stupid goals. I pity the woman who will have to marry you someday." Katara narrowed her eyes at him, as if preparing to announce an edict.

"Why? Because YOU, Zuko, are the only person you will ever care about in your whole goddamn fucking life-"

And before she could say anymore, Zuko moved faster than he had ever moved in his life. Grabbing her by the arms, he swung around until he slammed her back against the wall, and pinning her there, he bent down to kiss her with a frightening violence.

She squirmed in his grasp, biting back a cry of pain when her back hit the wall. And then, unbelievably, he was _kissing_ her. Her first primitive instinct was to fight him. She hit his shoulders with her fist, trying to push him away, but he wouldn't let go. She tried to scream, but his mouth was covering hers, his hand tangled in her hair at the back of her neck, holding her in his grasp. Nothing she could do would make him let go of her.

And suddenly, a warm feeling overcame her and she stopped struggling. She stilled for a second and he took the opportunity to deepen the kiss. With one hand, he pinned her right wrist to the wall.

Her mind was screaming _No no no he's the enemy! He's the enemy don't give in don't give in!_ But she was already sighing in relief and warm pleasure. Her arms came up to his shoulders and he pulled her in closer to him. And oh my, everything was so warm and she just _melted_, every single thought flying from her mind.

Then his other hand moved from her lower back, down, down, down until he touched one firm thigh and he pulled it up, over his hip-

"NO!" She gasped finally, pulling away. "_Stop it!_"

He stumbled back, looking confused and dazed. She probably didn't have a much different expression on her own face.

They stood panting, averting each other's eyes and wondering at the sudden silence that filled the room.

Katara ran one hand nervously and awkwardly through her messed-up hair. "What… what was that?"

Zuko took the opportunity to seize upon her stupid question. "It was a _kiss_, if you didn't notice. Although how it could have completely escaped you, I have no idea."

Katara's eyes widened in shock. Her mind was slowly returning to her in bits and pieces. "That- that was my _first kiss!_" She said, horrified. She stepped back, one hand covering her mouth.

"It wasn't mine." Zuko said, as if trying to prove something.

She didn't seem to hear his comment. "That was my FIRST KISS!" She rounded on him, an angry glare fixed on her face. "It was supposed to be with someone _special_! I can't believe this! I can't believe my first kiss was _you!_" Katara looked like she was ready to shoot him. "Y- You _stole_ it from me!"

Then she glanced at him suspiciously. "It wasn't your first kiss?"

"No." He replied calmly. "And it wasn't yours either." Inside, he was rather miffed. It couldn't have been that bad, could it? She'd certainly responded well enough. What was so bad about him being her first kiss?

"What?" Her response was incredulous.

"It wasn't your first kiss."

"_What?_"

Zuko was growing increasingly annoyed. "Is that the only thing you can say? I said, it wasn't your first kiss, and it wasn't mine either!"

"_WHAT!_"

"I kissed you last night!" He finally snapped out, uncaring of the consequences that this statement would procure. "So this was technically your second kiss. As it was mine."

She stared at him, a completely flabbergasted expression on her face. "You _kissed_ me last night?" Her shocked expression quickly turned into deadly suspicion. "What _else _did you do while I was asleep?" Her arms quickly came up across her chest, in a defensive gesture from prying eyes. "_Hm_? What else did you do, pervert?"

He glared at her. "Nothing. I didn't do anything else."

"Right."

The room was silent again.

Katara's mind was reeling. He had kissed her after she accused of him of not caring for anyone else… did that mean he cared for _her_? Impossible.

Zuko cursed himself. Oh, he didn't regret the actual _kissing_, which hadn't been bad, if he did say so himself, but he regretted the fact that Katara would probably read into it now. She wouldn't be wrong with most of her assumptions, which was the problem.

She turned around slowly until her back was facing him. She was looking out the window again. Zuko noticed that she did this whenever she wanted to tell him something but, for some reason or other, didn't want to look at him when she did so.

"I'm sorry for calling you a heartless bastard."

"It's okay." He finally said. She apologized so easily, usually immediately after a fight (or a make-out session…). It took him a lot longer. Pride was, as always, the problem.

"I did defend you, you know. Against Jet."

"I know. And," He choked this next part out. "I'm sorry about killing Jet."

She was silent for a bit. "It's not okay."

He couldn't help but swallow uncertainly in his throat. What did that mean?

Katara sighed heavily. "It's not okay, but I don't really blame you for it." She turned to finally face him. "I know how you saw him. He was a liability. A threat. And when you had the chance, you had to kill him. That's your solution. You kill anything that is a threat to your interests."

He nodded. That's how it was.

"Aang is a threat, yes? Like I am a threat?" As if unable to face the answer, Katara turned around again, her back to him.

Zuko could see that it was dark outside already. Night had fallen fast.

Uncurling his hand, he dangled the necklace in front of his eyes. Stepping up close behind Katara, he reached around her shoulders, bending his head close to her ear as if he was about to whisper into it. He draped the necklace across her throat, and clasped it in the back, leaving his hand there.

"You're right, Katara." He whispered. "I do kill anything that threatens my interests." He bent even closer, feeling her tension under his hand. "But are you a threat to me? Or one of my interests?"

A knock sounded at the door.

Katara and Zuko both sighed. It _completely_ destroyed the mood. Zuko turned from Katara, and she shifted to rest her weight on one foot, an annoyed stance.

"_What_?" He snapped, sounding utterly hostile to whoever it was at the door. _Damn_ them.

"Captain of the Royal Guard, sir." The emotionless tone of one of those queer elite soldiers answered.

Zuko immediately became taut. His elite wouldn't bother him unless it was something incredibly important. He crossed to the door, hearing Katara sigh behind him. He'd get this finished with quickly.

Katara tapped her foot, obviously miffed as Zuko went outside, and she could hear the low murmurs of conversation drift in. She stroked one hand over her necklace. It's familiar weight comforted her.

"… on the ship now…"

"… are you certain? Absolutely positive?"

"… yes sir, put… both… in cell before… could do anything."

"… good work, good work, thank you. I'll inspect… tomorrow…"

Katara rolled her eyes. They were probably talking about supply shipments. How trivial. Definitely not important enough to interrupt her and Zuko's… conversation. A red blush appeared on her cheeks. Conversation? Was that all it was? She could remember the feeling of his breath tickling her ear, and the words he'd said. Could she be anything more than a threat to him and his goals? Possibly?

Zuko finally came back in, shutting the door firmly behind him.

Katara turned around. She was surprised by the look in his eyes. His previously, intent, burning stare was now glazed over, as if he were thinking about something faraway. He wasn't focusing on the here and now. A slight smile seemed to tug at his lips. It wasn't a loving or blissful smile. It was a satisfactory smile, like the frightful expression a predator has once it's caught it's prey and is about to begin the feast.

"Zuko?" Katara asked worriedly, trying to bring his attention back. "What happened?"

His eyes finally focused back on her face. He looked intently at her neck, at her necklace for a brief moment, before gazing at her fully again. "Nothing, Katara. Nothing." He smiled.

"Nothing that would trouble you."

* * *

**A/N: **AND FINALLY THEY KISS! Wow, I really did prolong it, didn't I? I waited until the 10th chapter for them to do it! XD Hopefully I didn't screw it up. Gosh after writing this, I figured out I could NEVER write a lemon… jeez. I'm so innocent. Innocent me slaps cheeks repeatedly. This authoress is trying not to get a nose bleed… and just from a little kiss! Jeez. I've read much more mature stuff about these characters and I don't know how the authors manage to do it! I respect them, yes I do… 

Yes… according to many comments I got, Katara and Jet weren't as on good of terms as I made out in the last chapter (9). All of you were very accommodating and didn't make me feel as bad about it as you could have. Thank you for being considerate! I've learned a lot from the reviews and I'm glad most of you could overlook the inaccuracy for the sake of the story. Thanks for all the tips about Jet you guys gave me too. It really helped. But, in truth, he's dead now… sooo… yeah. But thanks again!

However, I wasn't able to watch the episode because the times got screwed up. Don't worry, I promse I'll catch it someday! And, if you couldn't tell already, I arranged this chapter so that The Waterbending Scroll episode has _not_ happened. Therefore, Katara did _not_ know Zuko had her necklace. Most of you probably already figured that out.

And my first ever… COMMENTS FOR YOU, THE REVIEWERS! Don't you feel special? Anyways skip over this if you want:

**Divine-Red-Crayon:** Yes! Did you hack my computer and find out about the necklace scene or what? Lol! It wasn't exactly an "apology" thing, but still, it played a big part.

**Myst172:** Thank you! But, please don't hurt me! Especially not my fingers… they're what I use to type this story with. XD

**Red Moon Kree:** Thank you! I'm glad you like my fic, and I'm glad it's one of your favorites.

**KlausBaudelaire17: **I'm sure I got some parts of Jet wrong… but thank you anyways for the reassurances!

**NightKitten:** Yes, I seem to be killing off several characters in this story, hm? I'm glad you could figure out that part about Katara's conflicting feelings for Zuko. Hopefully, you weren't the only one. That was sort of the whole point of the chapter. XD

**Insane Euphoria:** pets you. Yes, you're awesome too.

**Amber:** LOL! I'm glad your sister thinks it should be Z/K as well! ZUKO KATARA FANS FOREVER!

**IncessantEscapist:** Hopefully this chapter had enough romance.

**Blackened-fire:** I updated! XD

**Roguehobbit:** Thanks for reminding me! I did remember to put it in this chapter… I was in a bit of a hurry last time, sorry!

**Thedarkangel246:** They do! IN THIS CHAPTER!

**An innocent reviewer: **I've noticed you review every single chapter I write… I'm completely in love with your loyalty. Really. I feel so flattered that you take the time out of your day to review this fic. XOXO to you! Thanks so much!

**Mushramolover:** More romance? Hopefully this did the trick.

**Xleia: **I'm so sorry! You're probably already in Europe now… well you can finish reading when you get back!

**Levisrictusias:** Yes I did kill Jet… several people are upset about that. But, all for the sake of the story, yes? Thanks for your review!

**CurlEgurl:** Thanks for the tip on Jet! And for your understanding that I never watched the show. XD

**Hotaru: **Kill Sokka? Interesting idea but… maybe not yet. He's not on my list of Characters To Kill as of now. But maybe. Maybe.

**M0m0 the cheese: **Thanks! This is my first attempt at anything angsty or dramatic. I'm glad you liked it!

**Fiery-Ice-Kitsune: **Here is the next chapter! Thank you for overlooking this pathetic author's mistakes… XD

**Deity of death 1:** Thanks so much for your review! Yes, both Jet and Zuko are pretty screwed over, aren't they? But that's why we love them.

**KamikazeNeko: **Thanks for the episode overview. I still have to watch it. XD

**Starlightz1112:** Hopefully this chapter had more romance for you! XD

**Sam:** Oooh… there's going to be a healthy dose of angst AND romance coming up. Maybe that'll balance it all out?

**Hareiyu:** Updating! Updating! Updating!

**Kirida: **Thanks so much! I'm glad you like my story XD

**Pussin Boots: **Now, you are another reviewer who gets every chapter. Jeez. I really love you. I really do. Cookies for you.

**Kagura:** I'm updating, bitch! LOL. I made you cry? I'm so sorry… but it's good, yes? Yeah this is turning kinda AU. But still, probably all Z/K fics are. There's no way they would get together in the show. But thanks, anyways.

**Kurai-Tenshi of Doom:** Well now you're not missing anything! I guess it's a good thing you almost cried? XD Hehe. I'm glad you like it. Thanks so much for the review!

**Ieyre: **I know! I feel a bit ashamed at my mistakes about Jet. But I'm glad you still like the chapter.

**Akai Tsuki: **I do get upset when I miss an episode! But I was absorbed in writing Chapter 9, so it wasn't that bad. XD

**Harlequinny: **Thanks. You helped make the 200+ reviews happen. And as you could probably figure out from this chapter, there are several windows. Yup. XOXO

**Kayko15:** I will try to get around to your Avatar fic, I promise! But sometimes I'm just a little tight for time. But if I do have a couple minutes, I will!

**Waterbender: **You have reviewed this story from the very beginning too. Thanks so much! Yes those super-long chapters… but sometimes I can't bear to cut it off. I think it sort of destroys the mood, you know? But I guess each to her own.

**Battygirl: **Jet is beginning to sound more and more retarded the more I hear about him. Hm. But thanks for the eview!

**IloveJesus7390: **yessiree, things are definitely getting more complicated around here.

**MES: **sighs happily I really do love reading your long, long reviews. It makes my day. I really wonder if some of you reviewers hack into my computer and read what I wrote already. You can probably tell that I sort of did the whole couch thing like you said, but it was a lead-up to something more important. Good prediction, though. Thanks for the episode times too… but I think there's something about the time zones that got me confused. I turned on the TV and it was Full House. Is it before Full House or afterwards?

**Queen-of-Azarath:** Haha, I can tell by your name! I'm a Raven fan too! I am responding to your review! XD I'm so glad you like my story.

**Dark Beloved of Light: **Oooh… too bad you don't like the angst. Sorry. Yup, Katara's definitely gonna be changed by the end of this. In more ways than one. Figure that out, folks? Thanks for your review!

**Masako Moonshade: **The whole Sokka going to Jet thing was, yes, based on desperate measure in desperate times. Glad you knew that. XD I love your Z/K fic too. I did review, yes? Well thanks for your reviews! I really appreciate it.

**Ahriaman: **Different IS good!

I might have missed just a few people… but these are responses only to Chapter 9 reviews, thanks. Wow that took awhile. Be appreciative, because I don't think I'll be doing it again anytime soon.


	11. Chapter 11: Life Was Good

**Title:** The Hunter and The Prey  
**Category:** Avatar: Last Airbender  
**Author:** RedNovember  
**Chapter:** 10  
**Genre:** Romance/Action  
**Pairing:** Zuko/Katara  
**Rating:** T (PG-13) for now, but if I have to up it to M (or R) I will.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of this series. However, the fanfiction written, the plot contained and any original characters I write I do own.

**NOTICE: PLEASE READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTES AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER! THEY ARE IMPORTANT, AND ARE THERE FOR A REASON, BELIEVE IT OR NOT! Thanks.**

**If you can believe it, I am sincerely sorry that this chapter is over a week late. But explanations are forthcoming... so read the author's notes at the end! Enjoy!****

* * *

**

**Chapter 11: Life Was Good  
**

After Zuko's queer conversation with the Royal Guard, he'd been decidedly changed for the rest of the night.

"What happened?" Katara had insisted on knowing.

"Oh, nothing that would trouble you, Katara." Zuko replied easily.

She'd merely shrugged. It probably didn't concern her after all.

But as they got ready for bed, she could constantly feel his eyes on her, studying her intently. He followed her every movement with an almost calculating air.

"_What?_" She finally snapped in annoyance.

"Nothing, Katara, nothing." He gave her that strange predatory-satisfaction smile again. "I'm just watching you."

"Why?"

"Just… remembering things."

She blushed. They both knew what he was thinking about. He gave her another confident smile.

She tried to smile back, really, she did. But since their… kiss… he'd seemed strangely self-assured. Or was it after his talk with the Royal Guard that things had changed? She really couldn't tell.

But whatever it was, Zuko was moving with a confidence. Every word he said now, every movement he made was done with a nonchalant air that told everyone around him that yes, this was a man who knew what he was doing.

And Katara was just a bit intimidated.

She was still feeling awkward and shy after their… incident.

Zuko, however, was the complete opposite.

When they settled into bed, they didn't stay on their respective sides as they usually did at the beginning of the night. At least, Katara stayed on her side, not really expecting anything different from previous nights.

But she felt him wrap his arms around her waist and he pulled her close until her back was flush against his chest.

Her mouth suddenly felt dry. "Zuko…?" She began uncertainly.

"Yes?" She felt him mumble against her neck.

Her mouth felt very, very dry. "What are you doing?"

"The usual."

"Huh?" Not the most intelligent answer she'd ever come up with.

He raised his head and she peered over her shoulder to look at him. "We end up like this anyways."

"Oh." Was her meek answer.

"And I did this last night."

"Okay."

Katara slowly relaxed as warmth infused her from Zuko's body heat. It really was quite comfortable. Not like the way they usually went to bed, all stiff and uncertain with each other. Well, _she_ was still uncertain. But Zuko was a different matter. He seemed very certain now in everything he did.

She tried another approach. "What's going to happen now?"

"Well we're sailing back to the Fire Nation tomorrow."

That wasn't what Katara had meant. She'd meant what would happen to _them_, meaning the situation between the two of them. Not where they were traveling next, in a freaking _geographical_ sense.

Men. Always so dense.

Then her mind processed the information he had just given her.

"Tomorrow? I thought we were going to stay in Menthat a couple more days."

His warm breath blew against her hair. "Yeah… we finished repairs early and… stuff has come up." He sounded just a bit… hesitant for a moment. How strange.

"Like what stuff?"

"You're really talkative tonight, Katara." He said humorously.

Katara huffed a bit in indignation. "Well I'm _sorry_ if I just want to know what's going to happen to me!"

"Don't _worry_ about it. You'll be fine. I'll make sure you're fine. Just don't worry about it, Katara."

She just answered by sighing. Trouble was, she did worry. About Sokka, about Aang, about her own situation. But there really wasn't anything she could do now, she tried to reassure herself. Really, all she could do for now was sleep. Things would work out.

* * *

The next morning, Zuko woke up cheerfully and nudged Katara out of her sleep. She came back from the land of the sleeping and groaned when she realized he'd only woken her up because he was leaving. She wasn't allowed to go outside yet, but she quickly stopped whining when he bent over and kissed her thoroughly again before leaving. 

She almost felt like shouting at him after he left. Just because he'd kissed her _yesterday_ didn't mean he could take the liberty to do it whenever he wanted. Of course, he'd have to have her _permission_ first. She wasn't just going to let him jump her whenever he felt like it.

But, in truth, she didn't want him to stop.

"And therein lies the problem." Katara muttered to herself, still blushing, and rolled over, trying to get in a bit more sleep before Kaz came in with her breakfast.

* * *

Iroh watched his nephew come literally bounding up on to the deck. How utterly _curious_. This was two days in a row that Zuko had been in such a good mood. Iroh had heard more shouting last night from Zuko's room, but that ended quite abruptly, he remembered. And this morning, Zuko was cheerful again. 

It all added up to make one very worried Iroh.

"Zuko!" He waved his arm over his head.

"Uncle!" Zuko quickly strode over, a sincere smile on his face. "Good morning!"

"Good morning to you too." Iroh said cautiously, then decided not to beat around the bush. "What's got you in such high spirits today?"

Zuko laughed. Iroh was a bit shocked. It had been awhile since his nephew had last laughed. "I received some very, _very_ good news last night, Uncle."

Iroh gave him a look. "What, pray tell, was this good news?"

Zuko gave him a satisfied, superior look. "The Avatar himself is on my ship this very moment."

Iroh's mouth dropped openly. "_What?_"

Zuko raised one eyebrow, then laughed again. "Aren't you proud of me, Uncle?"

"_What_?" Iroh couldn't believe it. "When did this happen?"

"I told you, last night."

Iroh was silent for a moment, absorbing all the implications this new information brought to everything. Zuko's exile was basically over. He had achieved his goal. With the Avatar, the Fire Nation would rule the world. And…

"Does Katara know?"

Iroh had never seen his nephew's expression change so fast. The previously laughing eyes and happy expression immediately shuttered closed into the cool, guarded mask that was Zuko's trademark look. Iroh cursed in his head. Wrong thing to say.

"No." Zuko bit out. "She doesn't need to."

"She deserves to know, Zuko."

"Don't get started with a lecture, dear _Uncle!_" Zuko's face turned spitefully angry. "I can handle this by myself! My plan for the Avatar's capture has worked. Nothing else matters. _Nothing_!"

"Not even the girl?"

Zuko's eyes burned yellow. He spat out a final "NO! She's just a means to an end, Uncle! You should know that by now! I won't let anything get in the way of my goals!" But inside, Zuko was secretly relieved that Katara couldn't hear him. _I'm so sorry I don't mean it_.

Iroh regarded him calmly, then started in again. "I heard you last night, Zuko."

"What?" Zuko's eyes widened. _Oh no he doesn't mean…_

"I heard you shouting at her. You do it every night."

Zuko felt slightly relieved. At least Iroh hadn't found out about the other things that had also happened last night. "So?"

"I hear her shout back at you. And then, everything is silent." Iroh stared at him. "What happens when it's silent?"

"_What are you accusing me of?_" Zuko hissed. This was quickly spinning out of control. What was his uncle getting at? What was he suspecting Zuko of?

"Does she bleed when you hit her?"

Zuko couldn't believe it. His uncle thought he was… _abusing_ Katara? Zuko could have laughed, if the situation hadn't been so serious. He couldn't have been further from the truth. _No he's right you did hurt her before you did._ And his uncle knew it. That's why he was suspicious now. But Zuko couldn't very well tell his uncle what the two of them had really been doing.

Iroh took a deep breath, taking Zuko's silence as a sign that he was right. "I know your father…" He stopped for a second, as if speaking pained him. Zuko continued to gape disbelievingly. "You were so young, Zuko, when your father got into his rages and your mother tried to stop him. But you saw everything, didn't you-"

All of a sudden, images flashed before Zuko's eyes as his uncle continued speaking. Red-hot flames burned themselves onto his eyelids, the memory of a woman's scream (_STOP OZAI PLEASE NO!) _and his own tears, his own screams, sitting in his own filth when he shit himself from fear _oh no please father don't hit her don't hit her don't hit her not again NO NOT ME NOT MOTHER_ and everything descended into the burning hell of his father's anger.

Iroh saw the color drain from his nephew's face and barely avoided it when Zuko's fist swung around, smashing into railing behind Iroh.

He couldn't speak. Zuko stood there, panting, bent over.

"Shut up, uncle. Just shut up."

"Zuko-"

"SHUT UP!" Zuko raised his face, his eyes burning frightfully. _So like his father's eyes_… Iroh couldn't help himself from thinking. "JUST SHUT UP! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! YOU DON'T HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT'S GOING ON WITH KATARA! YOU JUST SHUT UP!"

Iroh couldn't help backing away. The metal of the ship's railing under Zuko's hand was slowly sizzling, melting into gray drops that rained down from his fingers and hit the deck with a gentle _plop plop_ noise. He turned to leave. There was no helping Zuko, not when he remembered things, not when he remembered why he was banished.

Not when Zuko remembered why he had _chosen_ the exile, rather than stay with his father.

"It's not like that." Zuko murmured behind him. "Uncle it's not like that. I'm not hurting her."

Iroh desperately wanted to believe him. He desperately wanted to trust his nephew again. But he kept walking away. And Iroh couldn't help but hear that one old saying repeated over and over again in his head.

_Like father, like son_.

* * *

The fleet left the harbor of Menthat early that morning, the last half-repaired warship limping along behind the fleet. It would be slow going for awhile, but circumstances had changed and Zuko felt they had to get back to the Fire Nation as fast as possible. 

His happier mood from earlier that morning had completely disappeared. His chest felt tight with heat, all his bottled up memories and emotions stored there. He quickly pushed them away, locked them up, where he wouldn't have to pay attention to anything remotely important for awhile.

But soon he felt the need to prove the truth to his Uncle. He'd show Iroh that he wasn't anything like Ozai. Nothing like his father.

#()#()#()# border border border #()#()#()(#)

"You're going to let me _out_?"

Zuko was only a bit annoyed at Katara's incredulousness. He wasn't a big, bad jailer. He only kept her in there because he didn't want her to run off in Menthat. "Yes. We left Menthat several hours ago. Do you want the fresh air or not?"

"Of course I do!" And she charged out of the room and up the stairs before him. He quickly followed behind. He didn't want her leaping off the side of the ship in excitement or anything.

Reaching the top, Katara breathed in deeply and looked at the blue, blue ocean surrounding her. A bit of Menthat was still visible on the horizon, a small dot of land that was slowly disappearing as they sailed away from the city. _Finally_ she was out of the room!

Most of the sailors were below decks or sleeping while it wasn't their shift. Having just left Menthat, majority of the hard work had been done, and it was smooth sailing until the Fire Nation. Unless something else came up.

Turning around, Katara spotted Iroh walking quickly towards them. "Iroh!" She said happily, waving her arm above her head. "Iroh! I'm over here!"

Zuko narrowed his eyes, stopping behind Katara. Now what would his uncle say? A bit of dread lodged itself in his stomach. Would Iroh tell Katara about the Avatar? Zuko tried not to break out in a nervous sweat. Would his uncle reveal everything to the girl?

"Hello Katara." Iroh smiled gently as he reached them. He didn't greet Zuko. Katara didn't notice. "How are you doing?"

"Good! Good enough, now that I can finally get out of Zuko's room." She rolled her eyes playfully. All this fresh air must be making her giddy, Zuko thought wryly. "You?"

Zuko's stomach clenched. But all his uncle said was "I'm good too. I'm glad to see you are feeling better."

All three of them were silent for an awkward moment. _Why did you have to bring that up?_ Zuko thought angrily. _Why? She didn't need to be reminded of it, and neither did I!_ He noticed that the bruises on Katara's neck and face were almost completely faded. No new injuries had appeared on her. Good. Iroh would see he had been wrong.

Katara's face softened. "Oh, you don't need to worry about me, Iroh. I'm perfectly happy." She really didn't want Iroh worrying about her. The poor old man probably had enough on his shoulders already.

_Perfectly happy_? Wondered Zuko silently. _She's just telling my uncle that to stop him worrying. She is not happy. _

Iroh nodded slowly, then his eyes met with Zuko's over Katara's head. "Good." He repeated. "That's good." And Zuko could see his uncle was sorry.

A few minutes later, Iroh left, and Zuko and Katara were left standing on the deck, staring out to sea.

Slowly, Katara extended her arms out over the railing, pushing and pulling at the water below her. Soon, she bent a small wave upwards, and formed it into a wobbly ball of water. It felt so good to finally be able to do this again. Flattening her palms out, she had the ball hover over her hands before she stretched out her arms and subsequently stretched the water into a long, whip-thin shape curling through the air.

Zuko watched her silently. She really had gotten better since they'd first met. He watched her face. _Now_ she did look happy.

She saw him watching her. "It's a good thing you didn't keep me in a cage on land." Katara made the whip move above their heads like a snake. "I would have gone crazy a long time ago. At least I'm on a ship, close to the water at all times."

Zuko kept his eyes on her hands, moving through the air and controlling the water. "How do you do that?" He finally asked. "How do you control the water so… so peacefully? Without any effort at all?"

Katara looked at him, surprised. "It took me lots of practice to get where I am. There _is_ effort involved." She gave him a confused look. "Asking me to explain Water Bending to you is like asking you to explain Fire Bending to me. The two are completely different things."

"They are." He agreed. Katara gestured, and the very edge of the water slid past his scarred cheek, brushing him ever so gracefully. "Water Bending seems so calm… so restful. Not like fire at all."

"No." Katara said, and she let her water whip slip quietly back into the ocean again. "I don't think I would ever want to learn Fire."

"What?" Zuko frowned. "Why? It's not a bad element, no worse than any of the other three. It's just… more dangerous."

"Fire is a thing that cannot exist without destroying something else." Katara turned back to look him squarely in the face. "Right?"

"Yes." He nodded slowly.

"Fire can't exist without burning _something_. It eats other things to keep itself alive. Wood or air, whichever one is available. It burns and burns and burns, until there is nothing left but cold, dead ashes." Katara leaned over the edge of the water, creating a tiny whirlpool with her finger. "I'm not trying to lecture you on your own element, it's just that I've thought of this before. Water, on the other hand, is the giver of all life, not the destroyer." She seemed convinced in her opinions.

Zuko countered her argument. "Fire gives us heat, helps us survive and cook our food. How can you say that is a bad thing?"

"I didn't say fire was bad-"

"I didn't say you said that. But think about it Katara." He paused and opened up his palm right next to her ear. She flinched back from the globe of fire hovering in his hand and glared at him. He smiled caustically. "Humans are more like fire than any other element in the world."

"How?" She crossed her arms defiantly.

"Humans survive by killing other things. You said that fire eats other things to keep itself alive. People do that too. We eat animals and plants to survive, essentially killing our food. When we are threatened, or something stands in our way, we destroy it in order to protect ourselves. Fire is the basis of human nature. Really," He shrugged. "It's all the same."

Katara just looked at him. She didn't have a counter argument.

"But you're right." He said sighing, closing his hand and dissipating the flames. "Fire is dangerous. And sometimes it is just _so easy_ to lose control. And when you do, people are killed, things are destroyed." Zuko looked at her again. "But it's not bad. It's not the bad element."

"But you have made it seem like the bad element." She said, an edge of anger in her voice. "Using your fire to conquer the world and destroy the peace. You've made it the bad element, all because of your stupid ambitions."

"I never said that just because it wasn't the bad element, it wasn't the _strongest_ element." He grinned, a superior smirk on his face. "It's your own fault that you aren't strong enough to beat back the Fire Nation. Survival of the fittest. Only the strongest get to rule."

"That's a stupid prejudice that all Fire Nation children are probably taught the moment they're born." Katara narrowed her eyes. "Just because Water Benders prefer peace doesn't mean we are weak."

"Peace-lovers _are_ weak."

"We are _stronger_ because we are peaceful."

"Then why are you losing the war?"

"_You_, a stupid Fire Bender, would never understand the concept of peace." She said, coming forward and poking a finger into his chest. "Never!"

He caught the hand she poked at him, and used it to pull her forward. Zuko leaned close, enjoying their proximity, and bent down to whisper in her ear. "Then why don't you _explain_ it to me?"

Katara scowled, but before she could open her mouth to protest that this wasn't some funny joke, he had darted in, pulling her close quick and fast, and kissed her again. In _public_! On the deck of the ship, where _everybody_ could see them!

_Oh yes._ She sighed a bit and reached up to rest her hands on his shoulders. Then all of a sudden she pulled away from him. She really did enjoy it, but Katara really didn't think they were ready to begin Public Displays of Affection yet.

She quickly yanked away, a frown on her face. "It's not funny, Zuko!"

He looked confused and shocked that she had rejected him. For about a second. Then he laughed at her. "You seemed to like it well enough."

"I don't mean the _kiss_!" She hissed.

"Well, now I know how to shut you up easily." He wouldn't stop his incessant _smiling_.

She stamped her foot angrily. A childish display, she knew, but she couldn't help herself. Then, determined to leave him in the proverbial dust, she whirled around and stomped towards their room, back down below decks. She desperately tried to ignore the looks she was getting from the crew. Damn it. She didn't need any more complications right now.

_My priorities_. She thought to herself. _What are my priorities?_ Escape? Was escape even on her list anymore? Was it possible… could it be… that she might not even _want_ to escape anymore?

Katara felt like slapping herself. If she didn't want to escape from Zuko, that meant she was a traitor. She would be betraying Aang and Sokka. She was fraternizing with the enemy! She was _kissing_ him!

If anyone had told her a year ago, when she'd still been with Aang and Sokka, that one day she would end up kissing the Prince of the Fire Nation and liking it, she would have first laughed at them and then chopped their head off.

The very idea was absurd. But here she was, committing the act. Or, more accurately, acts _plural_. She'd done it multiple times.

_Well_, she thought, _the first time didn't count, since I was asleep. And the second time didn't count either, since he did it so unexpectedly and by force too, might I add. And third time was a surprise too. I never initiated any of it. Therefore, I'm not accountable for any of it_.

Theoretically, her argument should have worked. But even she wasn't convinced.

Reaching the room, she threw herself down on the bed and sighed loudly. With all her being, she wanted to know desperately where Aang and Sokka were. Was her brother alright? Was Appa alright? Were they still looking for her?

* * *

The next few days passed, and Katara couldn't help but notice that Zuko was still strangely confident. He smiled more, laughed sometimes, and generally didn't have a single bad moment at all. Katara was much too modest to think that Zuko's good mood was only attributed to their recent developing closeness (relationship?), which had slowly gotten more and more frequent. There was something else going on. 

And truthfully, it creeped her out. She tried asking Zuko about it, but soon gave up. Every time she did pose the question, he'd answer with a mere "Nothing that would trouble you, Katara." And gave her his little smile.

But it wasn't his good mood that scared her the most. It was the knowledge that at any moment, the temperamental Prince could become violently angry again. She'd seen it happen before. He accused her of being the one with mood swings, but _he_ was the one who needed to see a psychologist. He could be tenderly caring one moment and raging mad the next. Some days, Katara felt like tiptoeing around him because she was scared to set him off on another violent rage.

But he hadn't had one of his "moments" for a week, maybe more. That was what made it freaky. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore.

She'd spent the whole day in their room, planning and strategizing on how she would pose the question to him.

When he came back in the evening, she walked straight up to him and declared, "_What_ is going on, Zuko? You haven't been yourself lately!" She wasn't going to beat around the bush.

For a brief second, she caught the glimpse of some strange emotion in his face (Was it guilt?) before he gave her a confident smile and said, "What, you'd prefer it if I were depressed or angry? You don't like it when I'm happy?" He gave her a teasing grin.

"No! I like it when we're _both_ happy, but sometimes it seems like you're a completely different person now-"

He moved languidly towards her, and she backed away, determined to keep the conversation on topic. "Zuko! I mean it!"

"Mean what?" He murmured, and he slipped his arms around her waist, drawing closer. She pushed at his shoulders ineffectively.

"I want to know things! You can't just keep me in here and not expect me to complain or wonder! What's going on with you?"

"Nothing much." He grinned, one hand coming up to stroke her cheek.

She turned her face away even though she wanted to give in to temptation and let him continued touching her. "Do you know where Aang and Sokka are?" She said desperately, as a last-ditch effort to deter him and make him stop. She dearly hoped she hadn't upset him now. She just wanted to know the truth.

But all he did was lift her up until she was sitting on the dresser, almost eye level with him, and said "Shut up" before bending down and kissing her. He was gentle and warm this time, not like the first time when he'd been violent.

And, curse her, Katara gave in. She slid her hands up on his shoulders and pulled him in closer. He complied easily, and she sat on the dresser, one leg on each side of him. Zuko was the first person she'd ever done this with before, and it just felt _so right_ to her. She just wanted to lose herself in all the sensations and she pressed even closer.

She prayed to all the gods above that she wasn't falling in love with him.

Katara never gave much thought to anything when he was kissing her. Obviously, she knew what happened between a man and a woman when they were in love. She knew how women got pregnant. She wasn't exactly a doe-eyed, innocent teenage girl. She also know what rape was. War and disaster weren't strangers to her either, after her village had been attacked years earlier. But the fact that she was in any danger never occurred to her. Zuko always stopped when she asked him to stop. Always. Everything was under control. Under _her_ control.

Until she felt his hand move from her waist, up, up and up-

"Stop." She murmured, turning her face away from him so that his lips grazed her cheek. She pushed his arm down. "Stop."

He replaced his hand on her waist, pulled her face back to him, and didn't stop kissing her. He pulled her in closer until they pressed against each other, and he was standing between her thighs. He wasn't listening.

She started feeling the edge of panic touch her mind. Katara pushed at his chest, trying to wiggle out of his grasp, but he just held on tighter. She gasped, turning her face away. "Stop, Zuko!" She said, panting. But he didn't. She placed one hand on his throat, pushing back as hard as she could. "_Stop it!_"

And finally he broke away, but still kept his arms around her. He was panting too. "Okay," He said tiredly, as if he was fighting a battle with himself. "Okay." He lay his head on her shoulder, still breathing heavily.

Katara sat there for awhile, her chin resting on his shoulder, trying to calm down.

"If we-" Zuko started, trying to breathe regularly again. "-If we go on like this, I'm not going to be able to stop next time."

She kept still on the dresser, finally realizing what he meant. And what it meant for her. "Me neither."

* * *

Zuko carried a lamp, jogging down narrow flights of stairs towards the deepest cells in the hold of the ship. The light threw flickering shadows on the wall, showing only glimpses of the metal-barred cells he was passing by. They were all empty, except for the one at the end. 

He dismissed the two Royal Guards standing stiffly beside the occupied cell. He wasn't taking any chances with his two prisoners.

Taking the key from the thin chain around his neck, Zuko quickly unlocked the door, stepped in, and locked it behind him.  
The lamplight threw shadows on the haggard faces of two boys in the cell for a brief second before Zuko extinguished the light, leaving them all in total darkness.

"Hello, Avatar." He said smoothly, leaning confidently against the wall. "Enjoying your stay on my ship?"

Aang didn't answer. He could see Zuko's yellow eyes through the darkness, and it scared him, much as he hated to admit it.

Sokka spoke up angrily instead. "Where's my sister, Zuko?" He spat out the Fire Prince's name as if it were a curse word.

Aang was worried, and more concerned about the health of Katara than his hatred of Zuko. "Is she alright?"

"She's perfectly fine, dear Avatar." Zuko laughed just a little, as if he knew something the boys didn't. "She's in my room right now."

Sokka bristled in the darkness. He hated Zuko's confident attitude, and he hated the fact that Zuko was withholding information about Katara from him. "If you've touched her in any way, bastard, I'll make sure you pay for it."

Zuko laughed again. "You're not in a position to make any threats right now, Sokka." He stood up from the wall, striding closer to the boys chained up on the ground. "But I must say, I've gotten to know your little sister very, _very_ well in the past few days." He gave another low laugh, knowing that this would serve to anger Sokka all the more. He knew how the other teenage boy would interpret that statement.

The clinking of chains was what they all heard as Sokka struggled to get up and face Zuko. "Fucking _bastard_." He hissed at the yellow eyes in the darkness. "I'll get you for this."

Zuko waved a dismissive hand at Sokka, although none of them could see it. "Whatever you want." He smirked, acting as though Sokka were not at all important. "My concern is the Avatar. I have a deal to make with him."

Aang kept silent. He wasn't perfectly sure of the intentions and forces at work here, and he wasn't about to get caught in a deal that he wasn't 100 positive about. He may have been the youngest of all the people involved in the conflict, but that didn't mean he was the stupidest.

"Are you listening, Avatar?"

Aang nodded before he realized Zuko couldn't see him. "Yes." He whispered.

"Do you care for your friends?" Zuko asked casually.

What an obvious question. What was the Prince playing at? "Yes." He said again.

"Then this is the deal. You stay, and Sokka goes. Understand?" Zuko continued. "It means that if you give your word that you won't attempt to escape, and that you _will_ follow my every command, then your friend Sokka here gets free leave."

"What about Katara?" Sokka spoke up.

"I'm going to need someone to help me keep the Avatar in line. If I let both of you go, who knows what the Avatar will do without a threat hanging over his head?"

"Katara has to go too." Aang said quietly.

"No." Zuko said without any emotion. "It is a lose-lose situation for you, Avatar. You can pick. You have the ability to let Sokka go, or keep both of your friends under my control. Either way, Katara and you are both staying with me."

"Keep me instead." Sokka said hurriedly. "Let Katara go."

"No." Was the simple answer from Zuko.

"Why not?" Sokka countered.

"I said no." Zuko's voice was emotionless.

"And I asked you, _why not_?" Sokka pressed. He knew he was venturing onto dangerous ground, but he wanted to know why Zuko wouldn't answer his question.

"Shut up." A flame burst into light right in front of Sokka's face. Sokka let out a yelp, scrambling backward.

"Shut up before I burn that annoying mouth of yours right off your face." Zuko's voice was neutral and low.

Aang quickly spoke up, trying to prevent an all out fight between the older boys from happening. Seeing as how Sokka was completely tied up, a physical conflict would only leave Zuko the victor, and Sokka beaten and bleeding. "I'll need time to think about it." He said hurriedly.

Zuko hesitated, then said "Fine. I'm in no hurry."

And then he left.

Sokka and Aang sat in the darkness, contemplating the Prince's words. The rustle outside told them their guards had returned again.

"Katara should have come and tried to rescue us by now." Sokka sounded extremely frustrated. "She wouldn't just leave us here."

"Maybe she can't." Aang said thoughtfully.

"No! I know my sister. If there were any way in the world, she'd try to help us." Sokka countered. "She would, I know it."

"Maybe she doesn't know we're here."

Sokka thought for a moment, then shook his head. "I bet you anything that Zuko would have told her just to torture her with the idea that he's got us all in his grasp. He probably _wants_ her to feel helpless. That's the kind of thing that spiteful Prince would do." Sokka finished bitterly. "I'll bet he told her and then tied her up somewhere so she couldn't help us."

"I don't know, Sokka-"

"I bet you anything she's trying to help us now." Sokka said determinedly, placing all his trust in his sister. "I bet you my life that she's thinking up an escape plan for us right this minute. She'll help us. Katara's smart. She wouldn't abandon us willingly."

* * *

At that moment, Katara was trying to figure out how she was going to deal with Zuko. They definitely couldn't sleep in the same bed together anymore. She wasn't even going to give herself the chance to give in to temptation. Nope. Not at all. 

Pulling sheets and several pillows onto the floor, she arranged her sleeping place as comfortably as she could. Finally she decided that it just wasn't going to get any better than one sheet, two pillows, and one blanket for herself on the hard floor.

Zuko still wasn't back. He'd left after their last heated moment, and Katara didn't know where he had gone. To clear his head? To take a cold shower? To deal with other business? They hadn't said anything after they admitted to themselves that they had to stop. He'd just left her sitting there alone on the dresser, wondering what she'd done to come to this point in her life.

Katara had met girls and knew girls who had gotten married at sixteen and had kids by eighteen. Especially in her own home tribe, everybody married young. It wasn't unusual, and it helped to keep their population up. They'd really needed it, especially after majority of their warriors and men had gone off to fight against the Fire Nation, and the last attack had left their Southern Water Tribe less of a tribe and more like a dilapidated gene pool. Disease and sickness also killed off a fourth of the babies born in the many small villages dotting the world.

But Katara had never wanted that for herself. She'd known friends and relatives who were happy with their future of a home and a family. But for Sokka and herself… things had been different for them.

Whatever she was going to do now, getting pregnant wasn't a priority.

* * *

After his little discussion with Sokka and Aang, Zuko had done a bit of thinking. And this was his realization: 

Life was good.

He was in control now. Everything he wanted, he had. His life was set. Nothing could threaten him now. He possessed the Avatar, and he possessed the two things that the Avatar treasured most in the world: Katara and Sokka.

Nothing could go wrong now. The Avatar would do anything Zuko said, as long as Zuko kept threatening his friends.

Zuko had _finally_ achieved his goals, and he could have all the world at his feet now. There were only one obstacle left: his father.

He entered his room, wondering what Katara had done after he'd left. Hopefully she wasn't feeling rejected. Well, why should she? _She_ was the one who had wanted to stop. She always wanted to stop, just when things were getting good. But he guessed that she'd panic if she thought things were getting serious. And he did always stop. Always. He wasn't going to force her to do anything. He wasn't that violent type of guy.

_Or are you?_ That annoying, griping voice that Zuko knew as his guilty conscience whispered in his head. _As if you've never hurt her before?_

Zuko shoved it away, and finally noticed that still mound on the floor. Was that Katara? Why was she sleeping on the ground? Walking over, he crouched down next to her head. He knew she wasn't asleep, and he was proved true when her eyes slowly opened, blinking at him.

"What are you doing on the ground?" He asked.

"Sleeping." She stated obviously.

"Why?"

"Because I'm scared to sleep next to you." Speaking bluntly was something Katara was good at, Zuko noticed.

"Why?"

"Because I'm scared I might get pregnant." Ouch.

"I'm not going to rape you." He said, a bit hurt that she didn't trust him. _And why should she?_ That stupid voice again. But all he did was roll his eyes and grasp her by the arm, lifting her up. She stood without a struggle. "Get on the bed."

Katara complied, and Zuko threw the remaining pillows and sheets from the ground back on the bed too.

When he finally settled in next to her again, she was staring straight up at the ceiling. He pulled her in close like always. She didn't struggle, but she remained stiff as a board, and didn't hug him back or relax. She was acting really strange tonight.

"What's wrong?" He finally asked, a bit annoyed.

"You know what's wrong, Zuko." She turned to look at him with what seemed like a great deal of effort.

Zuko remembered back to their last conversation. "Oh." He looked at her. "Then I guess I… I just won't kiss you again." He said, very reluctantly.

"But I want you to." _Yes!_ He cheered internally, and turned her face towards his with his hand.

She stopped him. "But, I also _don't_ want you to. Because if we can't stop this time, I don't know what I'm going to do."

They gazed at each other for a moment.

"Then we won't have to stop." He said gently.

She had a shocked expression on her face. "But we have to!"

"_Why?_"

"Because I'm… I'm not going to do…do _that_ with you, Zuko!" She choked out in a bit of a rage. "I'm not going to!" Her face softened a bit. "You're my enemy, you know that?"

Now he was angry. "Then do you know that you've been kissing your enemy for the past few days? That you've been sleeping with him, wearing his clothes, talking to him, laughing with him, and touching him as well?"

"That doesn't change the fact that you are-"

"Yes it does!" He shouted. "Yes it does! What have these past weeks meant to you?"

She looked at him calmly, but inside she wondered as well. _What have these past weeks mean to you, Zuko? Tell me. _But all she said was "What are we if we aren't enemies?" Katara waited for him to answer her. She waited for Zuko to tell her something that she knew they could never be. Maybe if they'd been born in a different time, at a different place, as different people. But not now, not here, and not as the people they were.

And he knew it too. Zuko stared at Katara. "They're not coming to get you. The Avatar and your brother. They're not coming."

She felt like slapping him. "Yes they are." She knew she sounded like she was trying to reassure herself.

"They aren't. They've forgotten about you."

"They wouldn't leave me. They're still searching. They love me." She said with as much confidence as she could muster. "Sokka and Aang love me." _The way you don't_, were the unspoken words.

Zuko stared at her, emotions roiling across his scarred face. Then he grabbed her violently and kissed her again, much like the first time he'd done it. It was hard and angry and desperate, and it said everything they couldn't say in words.

Katara kissed him back hungrily, pulling him down over her. She forgot everything. She forgot about Aang, Sokka, rescue, enemies, promises, Fire Nation, war, Water Bending, prisoners, peace, and love.

All she thought of that night was Zuko.

* * *

**A/N:** No. This authoress is not going to give anything away. Every single one of you readers can interpret this chapter however you want. Many things discussed and mentioned in this chapter will play big parts in later chapters, so heads up. 

Also, some of you will notice the part about Zuko and his father. I am _assuming _(and it's never safe to assume, but I'm doing so anyways) in the show that Zuko was banished against his wishes. I think that's how most people see it. BUT, the show doesn't give me much to build Zuko's exile on aside from the simple facts which are much like this:

Ozai: You piss me off for no apparent reason, son. Therefore, I'm banishing you and making you do my dirty work by finding that one semi-famous kid called the Avatar. Then you can come home and I'll love you forever.

Zuko: Aw shucks, Dad, really?

Ozai: Get out of my castle. If I catch you back here before you have the Avatar, I'm grounding you for a billion trillion million years. And make sure to change your underwear every night.

Zuko: Okay Dad! Love you too! See you in a decade or so!

Soo… I'm sort of making up my own history behind his exile. Kapeesh? This is how it's going to work. I don't think that shallow interpretation that I just wrote out is anything like how Zuko's banishment was reall played out, so I'm going to write my own idea of what happened. This is just getting more and more AU with every chapter. Argh.

READER'S VOTE: At this point in the story, I'm pretty divided about the ending. I've got most everything else planned out but that part. Here's the deal. I can write a sad ending, but there will be a sequel! Or, I can go with a happy ending, and no sequel. Vote please. I'd like to know everyone's opinion on this.

**Why this was late: **I left on a school trip the morning of Sunday (May 22, 2005) and came back today which is Friday (May 27, 2005) to WASHINGTON D.C. it was mucho fun thanks. But, that also meant I had no time to update. Plus, tomorrow, I leave on a camping trip with my family until AFTER MEMORIAL DAY (May 30, 2005) so there will be NO UPDATES until, I'm guessing, June (which isn't so far away). I will be busily writing in my notebook the entire time, so I'll just type everything up when I get home. I'm sorry about this, but I do have a life other than Z/K (however shocking that might sound). However, KEEP THOSE REVIEWS COMING!

THANKS SO MUCH FOR 300+ REVIEWS!


	12. Chapter 12: And We All Fall Down

**Chapter 12: And We All Fall Down**

Zuko stood on deck and watched Katara lean against the railing. A light breeze blew over the ship, ruffling both of their hair. She looked genuinely happy, breathing in the fresh air and raising her face to the wind. She looked happy. And, really, if she was happy, he was happy.

Officer Sakai walked across the deck towards Zuko. The Prince noticed that the Officer never looked directly at Katara anymore, not since their little fall out. It was amusing that his previously pompous and self-righteous Officer was afraid of Katara. Katara, on the other hand, turned around and glared openly at the Officer. Sakai didn't look at her, and continued to hurry towards Zuko.

It never occurred to Zuko that Sakai might be afraid of Katara because of the influence she had over the Prince.

Sakai saluted respectfully and reported to Zuko, "The prisoners have been fed, your Majesty."

Zuko resisted the sudden violent urge to physically slap a hand over Sakai's mouth. Why did the man have to be so goddamn _loud_? "Thank you, Officer." Zuko replied stiffly.

Sakai saluted again and turned around to walk away. As soon as he left, Katara glided over cheerfully and looked up at him. "What did _he_ want?" She asked. To her, Sakai was a mere annoyance now. She didn't care about the obnoxious officer anymore. Katara only asked out of curiosity.

Silently thanking all the gods above that she hadn't heard what Sakai had said, Zuko placed a reassuring hand on her back and shook his head slowly. "Nothing. Just ship business."

She smiled up at him. That simple act left Zuko feeling like life really couldn't get any better. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so… content. They stood there silently together, looking out at the blue ocean, his hand still resting around her waist. Casual contact was no stranger to them now. Anyone casually observing the couple would think that Zuko and Katara were just another pair of sweethearts enjoying each other's company.

A hand descended on Zuko's shoulder, and Iroh's grinning face greeted Katara and Zuko. "Wonderful weather today, yes?" He asked, not really expecting an answer.

"Good morning, Iroh." Katara replied. Iroh nodded back at her.

"Uncle." Zuko's tone was a bit more serious now. "We enter Fire Nation territory this afternoon."

Iroh turned to him slowly. Both of them had become extremely solemn. Katara watched the exchange silently, knowing that something bigger than a happy little family reunion was at stake.

"What are you expecting?" Iroh asked Zuko quietly.

"I'm not sure." It seemed a bit difficult for Zuko to get the words out. "I've thought about it quite a bit. We'll definitely be met with Fire ships and escorted in under guard."

"Do you think they'll even let you into the harbor?"

"They'll have to." Zuko said determinedly. "My father will be curious enough about the situation to let me in."

"You'll be arrested first, of course." Iroh reminded him gently. "Your return will be considered breaking the law."

"Arrest will be a mere formality." Zuko said, waving the notion aside. "The entire kingdom, including the King and his court, will want to know why I'm back."

Iroh nodded slowly, still thinking about it.

Katara kept silent, still absorbing this information slowly. She knew that Zuko wasn't on great terms with his father, but why would Ozai arrest his own son?

Soon after their conversation, Iroh left to inspect other business. All the ships were preparing for their return to the Fire Nation. They would enter Fire Nation waters this afternoon, and probably reach Kotzut Harbor by evening. Kotzut was the Fire Nation's capital city and possessed a large, protected bay that was ideal for ship building and the site for most of the Fire Nation's navy fleet.

Katara spent the rest of the morning wandering the ship by herself, thinking on everything. Zuko was busy with other matters, and she could talk to him about her questions later, when they met up for lunch.

The thing that most concerned her was the fact that she was soon going to be in enemy territory. The Fire Nation was probably the one place that Katara never wanted to travel to in her life. It was the kingdom that had been waging war forever on the other elements, and she'd heard nightmarish stories on the Fire people's brutality and hostility. Most of the stories she knew were untrue now, having spent almost three weeks on a ship with Fire people.

But what was _her_ place in all this? Was Zuko going to introduce her as a respected guest, or a chained prisoner? Would she be meeting Lord Ozai and the Fire Nation court? Would she be walking alongside Zuko when they arrived, or would she be shoved into some hay-covered cart, kept out of sight until everything important was done with?

Zuko hadn't said a word about the situation to her, and she was determined to ask him. Well, whether she did or didn't ask him wasn't very important. She'd find out anyways tonight.

* * *

At noon, Zuko and Katara sat down to eat in a private dining room on the ship. 

"Why would your father arrest you?" Katara asked curiously, spearing a piece of lettuce with her fork.

Zuko grimaced inwardly. Not even a _How was your day, darling_? It was so like her to be incredibly blunt. It really saved them a lot of time in conversations, but made it awkward as well.

"Bad history." He replied simply.

"What, did you accidentally sink your dad's favorite ship when you were younger?" She asked jokingly, trying to make light of the situation.

Zuko smiled back, but he knew it looked forced. Katara knew it too, and immediately stopped grinning. She poked at a tomato on her plate.

"Not exactly. We just don't love each other very much." He said, setting down his knife and leaning back in his chair, keeping his eyes averted from her face. He wondered how she'd take this information, the fact that he and his father had no love for each other. Zuko wasn't entirely sure about Katara's childhood or family life. What was her relationship with her own father?

"Oh." Katara said quietly. She scraped disinterestedly at the same tomato. "I haven't seen my father since I was nine." She finally looked up to meet his eyes.

Katara seemed so innocent, loving, and caring. Zuko had assumed she'd had a wonderful childhood and family life in order to make her that way. Apparently not. She'd seen many things in her short life as well.

"Why did he leave?" Zuko asked. He assumed that maybe the relationship between her mother and father had deteriorated. A divorce, maybe?

"He left five years ago to fight the Fire Nation in the war." She continued to gaze unabashedly at him. "Most likely he's dead by now."

This information hit Zuko like a punch in his gut. He kept his horror and shame inside. A fucking _divorce_? Compared to her father's probable death, divorce seemed like a happy event.

Zuko kept his face neutral, concentrating on cutting his chicken. He could feel Katara's eyes on him, but he refused to meet her gaze. What was he supposed to fucking say? _It's not my fault!_ He wanted to scream. _It's not my fault! _He tried to remember every single man he'd ever met on a battlefield, every single man he'd ever killed cold-heartedly. Did any of them look like Katara's father? Did any of them have the same blue-gray eyes, the same olive skin, the same face structure, the same hair texture?

And every single dead man Zuko thought of looked exactly like his idea of Katara's father.

He wondered how she felt. She was living with the man who had indirectly (or maybe even directly) caused her father's death. Did she think of it that way? Did Katara still relate Zuko to the enemy that had taken everything away from her? Did she still think of him as a murderer, a killer, a man destined for hell?

Did Katara think that maybe she'd already slept with her father's killer?

Zuko put down his knife gently, and rose from the table, pushing back his chair. Katara followed him with her eyes as he opened a small cabinet and took out several small packages, laying them on the table.

Reaching for the doorknob, he turned his back to her before opening the door. "The packages contain things you might need. When we arrive at the Fire Nation, you will be treated as my respected guest and must look accordingly."

Then he left.

Katara stared at the bundles on the table, her lunch left mostly untouched. Standing up, she walked over to the largest package and untied it slowly with shaking fingers. The brown paper fell away to reveal the shine of expensive cloth. Lifting the dress up to the lamplight, Katara inspected the beautiful gown.

Satin, silk, and velvet rippled through her fingers. The dress was red and gold, like her previous one, but incredibly styled and ornate. It was floor length with swishy folds in the skirt and a curving bodice that would show off her assets. Billowy sleeves of red-gold silk concealed the wearer's bare shoulders and arms. Intricate gold embroidery decorated the red material, and Katara knew it would fit her perfectly. A dress fit for an important guest.

A dress fit for a queen.

Katara couldn't even dream of the money involved in purchasing clothing like this. The other smaller packages probably contained jewelry and other expensive accessories.

She collapsed in her chair, the dress floating down to rest in her lap. Katara was surrounded by gold and flame, indescribable riches, more than she had ever hoped for.

And all she could think of was how she'd never felt so lonely in her life.

* * *

Zuko strode into the darkness of the wine hold in his ship, lighting several lamps in the room with a flick of his fingers. Inspecting the rows upon rows of wrapped dusty bottles, he randomly chose one from the shelf closest to him. Not even bothering to read the label, he popped off the cork and poured himself a small drink in a glass. Not enough to get him drunk, but enough to help him relax and forget. He'd need his wits about him this afternoon when he would finally return to his homeland. 

Sitting in the dim light of the wine room, he stared into dark corners. Slight ghosts and quiet whispers filled the places where light didn't touch. Ghosts of men he'd killed when he was fourteen, ghosts of women he'd killed when he was fifteen, ghosts of children he'd killed when he was sixteen.

And the ghost of Katara swirled closest to him, whispered loudest to him. She kept repeating something over and over again. _Where is my father? Where is my father?_ She asked desperately, brushing across his face.

_Where is mine?_ He wondered as well. _Where is my father?_

_He's here_, the ghosts whispered _He's here in the blistering flames blasting your face, he's here in your mother's scream, and he's here in Katara's father's dead body_.

* * *

Iroh watched the horizon intently. Two Fire Nation ships had been sighted a half hour earlier, obviously envoys and messengers sent by the navy in Kotzut. It would take them maybe ten more minutes to reach them. 

Then things would get complicated.

Zuko finally arrived, having rinsed his head in cold water and downed another whole cup of cold water and chewed mint to erase the traces of alcohol from his breath.

But Iroh knew something had happened. He was the one who knew Zuko best, even better than Lord Ozai.

"Are you alright?" Iroh asked quietly.

"Fine." Zuko said, tight-lipped. "Just fine."

Iroh decided not to press, not now when things were getting serious. "The ships from Kotzut were sighted about thirty minutes ago."

Zuko inspected the escort ships gliding quickly over the water towards his own fleet. "Two ships? I expected more for an arrest."

"They obviously don't see us as a threat."

"Of course not." Zuko said. "Again, this arrest is just a formality. They are the ones who want to know why I am back. They are the ones who are interested in me."

The old man and the young man watched silently as their fellow countrymen drew closer on their two ships.

Finally, the first envoy drew up next to the flagship, and two messengers dressed in Fire Army uniform stepped across the gangplank and saluted to Iroh and Zuko. The entire crew of the flagship was silent, watching it all unfold on deck.

The first messenger unrolled a long piece of parchment and proceeded to read in a clear, ringing voice:

"By the order of Fire Lord Zhao, the banished Prince Zuko is under arrest for returning under exile. Retired General Iroh and all the crew under Prince Zuko's command are to be detained for further questioning, and if necessary, punishment."

The messenger droned on and on, listing further reasons why Zuko sucked and shouldn't be allowed back in the Fire Nation. But only one thing concerned Zuko at the moment.

Zuko bent to whisper in Iroh's ear, "_Fire Lord_ Zhao? Am I missing something?"

Iroh frowned a bit. "I wonder about it as well. Last I heard, Zhao was still a Commander in the Fire Army. Maybe he's been promoted?"

"My father wouldn't let anyone have the title of Fire Lord for anyone but himself. Not even Zhao." The title of Fire Lord was the equivalent of Emperor or King in the Fire Nation. And Ozai wasn't known as a man who liked to share his things, including his titles.

Iroh shrugged. "We'll most likely find out about it later."

As soon as all the formalities were done with, the messenger rolled up his declaration and proceeded to inform Zuko that his fleet had to docilely follow the small envoy ships back to Kotzut harbor. A single wrong move would be taken as an act of war and dealt with accordingly. Never mind the fact that Zuko had more than a dozen ships at his disposal, including three warships, and that the messengers were on two tiny little vessels.

As they neared Kotzut harbor, evening fell and Zuko grew tenser and tenser. The effects of the wine from earlier had completely fallen away.

"You look like you have a pole shoved up your ass." Soft footsteps from behind him made Zuko turn around. He blinked repeatedly, confused. Who was it?

The weakening light from the setting sun threw a soft glow around the figure standing behind him, partly because of the light reflecting off all the gold finery adorning her. The sight of her was unearthly.

And then Zuko finally realized. Underneath all the riches he'd given her, he could see it was still the same forgiving Katara.

He wondered why she was still talking to him. Why didn't she hate him by now?

"If I do, it's because you shoved it up there." He finally replied, for lack of anything better to say.

She stood next to him, her hands gripping the railing. Several gold bracelets slipped down her wrist.

Zuko winced inside. It was now or never. "About your father-"

"Don't. You don't need to." She cut him off, her eyes locked on the calm ocean.

Zuko felt a little frustrated. Here he was, trying to apologize for something he felt utterly horrible about, and she didn't want to talk about it? If they kept running away from things in their past, they would never get anywhere. _Anywhere?_ A voice whispered to him. _Don't fool yourself. There is no anywhere for you two. There is no future._

"Katara-" He started again.

"No, really, Zuko." She turned to look at him, a gentle smile on her face. "I don't think my father's dead. I don't think you killed him. I believe I'll find him again someday."

And they both knew she was lying.

She was making up a perfect world for herself, a world where she and him weren't enemies, a world where nobody killed anyone, and a world where they did have a future. It was a world that did not and would not ever exist.

And he let it slide, because he wanted to be part of that world too.

* * *

As they slowly drew into the impressive Kotzut harbor, Zuko stood steadily at the prow of his flagship, dressed in princely attire and looking for all the world like he wasn't under arrest by his own country. 

Katara stood quietly next to him, hands folded demurely and eyes grazing the ground. The perfect picture of a docile woman.

She felt anything but. Inside, she was more nervous than she had ever been in her life. Her mind kept bringing up her father again. The words _Zuko, killed, war, _and _father_ kept swimming before her eyes, but she dealt with it by ignoring all those thoughts and pushing it to the back of her consciousness. Katara knew she was in denial, but that was the only way she could deal with trauma. If she didn't think about it, then she wouldn't have to worry about it. Then everything would be just perfect.

Finally raising her eyes to look around her, Katara wasn't disappointed by the sight of the Fire Nation capital harbor. All the stories about Kotzut's magnificence and glory weren't untrue. Hundreds and thousands of ships were docked and anchored in the bay, all sorts of vessels from gigantic flagships like the _Golden Flame_ to modest fishing boats. The Fire Nation's gigantic navy was stationed here also, hundreds of warships undergoing repairs and dozens more in the process of being built. Katara could see the small figures of soldiers and officers drilling and training in thousands of neat rows further up on land. It was an impressive sight. _No wonder they're winning the war._

Her breath caught in her chest when they drew close enough to see the sunlight reflecting off the tops of the buildings. The capital was a city of sheer mighty walls, shining gold roofs, and rounded domes painted in crimson colors. Many spires and turrets crowned Kotzut, each one taller than the next. The dominant Fire Nation colors, crimson and gold, were all over the city and when the light hit it just right, Kotzut looked like it was brilliantly on fire. Outside the city walls, dozens of sprawling elegant wooden buildings housed the army and training facilities.

The Fire Palace was the gem in the crown of the city. Located further inland, majority of it's giant bulk was concealed by the city in front of it. But the golden towers and domes rose up above the rest of the buildings and threw long dark shadows over the Fire Nation's capital city. Flags of red and gold flew from the tops of the turrets and spires. It's glittering magnificence made everything else under the sun seem liked dulled old metal.

Katara felt a chill run down her back as she took in the sight. _It's a prison_, a voice whispered to her. _It's a beautiful golden cage_.

Nonsense. It was just a palace. All royal families had one. It was meant to proclaim the ruler's glory and power. It was meant to strike fear and awe in the hearts of anybody who tried to oppose the Fire Nation. Katara was feeling both fear and awe. Nothing at home in her simple Water Tribe could ever compare with the Fire Nation's luxury and majesty. She sighed a bit.

Zuko heard her and laced his fingers through her left hand gently, as a sign of comfort. She leaned wearily into the contact, wishing that they were somewhere else in the quiet of peace. Not out here, where all eyes were fixed upon their two important figures on the flagship. People on land were finally realizing that something was going on. Gossip and rumors had obviously spread like fire throughout the city and the wharves and docks. City folk crowded the harbor, clamoring and wondering what the great procession of ships was for. Had their Prince finally returned? And did he have the famed Avatar with him? Was that who the woman was?

"It's beautiful, yes?" Zuko said, contentment and pride in his voice. He'd interpreted her sigh as a sound of awe. She merely nodded, and continued to let him think she wasn't worried about anything.

No matter how nervous he was about meeting his father again, Zuko was definitely glad to return to his homeland after almost four years of exile. Banishment certainly hadn't been _boring_- there'd been enough happening to last him awhile –but home was home.

Gesturing to one of the officers waiting nearby, Zuko beckoned him over. The officer quickly leaned in, and Zuko whispered, "All the necessary arrangements are ready?"

The officer gave a quick bow, saying "Yes, your Majesty. But would you like me to check once more?"

Zuko nodded and thanked the officer. The officer scurried off discreetly to check on the aforementioned arrangements.

Katara stood where she had been before, continuously brooding as the harbor drew close and closer. She didn't pay much attention to all the little details that went on between Zuko and his crew. The Prince was in command of a large fleet, so officers were always coming to update Zuko on the latest information. It was nothing out of the ordinary.

The flagship finally bumped against a large dock, and a cheer went up from the sailors and crew on deck. They hadn't seen home in a long time as well, and many were eager to meet family and friends once again.

Stiff and trembling, Katara tucked her hand in Zuko's arm and was led down the plank, off the ship, and onto dry land for the first time in weeks. It was all a great ceremony, with soldiers standing on each side of the dock. All the people crowded around the wharves cheered and clapped, finally recognizing their prince who had returned from exile. The original messenger who had met them at sea flitted constantly around Zuko, as if to remind them that they were, indeed, under arrest.

However, the Fire people didn't know what to make of Katara. Whispers traveled through the crowd, and Katara held her head high with as much dignity as she could muster. The curious, interested, and sometimes suspicious eyes followed her all the way through the crowd. Finally, they came to the end of the walk and were met by an ornate carriage with the markings of the Royal House on it's doors. Four agitated black horses pranced in front, held barely under control by the driver.

Katara sighed with relief as Zuko helped her into the cool darkness of the carriage. She relaxed back onto the soft cushions. Being royal certainly had it's perks.

Zuko let go of her hand but kept his head bent next to hers in the carriage. "I can't stay with you. I have to ride at the head of the procession to the palace. It's a tradition thing, sorry." He seemed genuinely regretful, understanding how she must have felt.

Katara simply nodded. She was a bit disappointed, but not altogether surprised. Of course his people would want to see their Prince returned. Iroh would probably ride at the head with him, the uncle being a decorated retired general of the army and all.

"I'll be fine here." She said confidently. _At least I can hide from all the stares_.

"Okay." He said, pressing a soft kiss to her temple before retreating back out into the world.

As soon as he closed the door, Katara quickly drew the thin red silk curtain over the window, where a multitude of curious faces were pressing. Publicity was one thing she didn't need right now. A slightly warm breeze blew in from the curtained windows. It wasn't unpleasantly hot, because the temperatures had gone down when the harsh sun set. But once the sun came up again, the city would probably be stifling hot. Such was the climate of the Fire Nation. The people of Kotzut were probably used to the heat, but not Katara. She much preferred the cool, icy, biting climate of the territories of the Water Tribes.

As the carriage slowly rolled up the main street of Kotzut, Katara leaned back against the pillows and settled in for the ride. Obviously they weren't going to move anywhere fast. Their ride through the streets up to the castle was heralded by cheering crowds of flag-waving people. This wasn't an arrest- it was a freaking parade. No matter how much she liked the privacy of her little carriage, she still wished she could see Zuko. What was he doing? Waving like a gallant Prince returning from war? Or was he putting on his solemn face?

* * *

Solemn Face was what Zuko was going for as he rode at the head of the procession. However, Iroh, who was riding next to him, didn't seem to have the same inhibitions. His crazy uncle was waving and smiling at everyone, encouraging the cheers and praise they were receiving from the crowd. And the people were responding well. Iroh was, after all, a decorated and famous retired General. Basically a hero of the nation, for all the battles he'd fought and won. Strange that the man could be so cheerful and humorous after a lifetime of war and death. 

But Zuko was one of the only people in the world who knew that Iroh's happy demeanor was merely a mask majority of the time. A means to escape from the horrible memories that crowded the gentle old man's mind.

As they rode closer and closer to the palace, Zuko began to notice something strange. Black-clad soldiers wearing the uniform of the Palace Guard were shoving through the crowds and slowly pushing people back towards their previous businesses. Apparently, these guards didn't want a crowd gathering for the Prince. It wasn't disturbing, for no one was hurt, but still strange.

By the time they reached the high stone wall surrounding the palace, more than half the crowd had been dispersed by the black-uniformed guards.

Zuko frowned a bit but didn't let it get to him. He was technically an arrested convict after all. Breakers of the law generally weren't allowed to have large crowds cheering for them, even if they were royalty.

They passed through the ornate gate doors and a slow pounding began in Zuko's chest. This was it. What he had been waiting for. After three long years he was back in the familiar surroundings of his home. To say he was nervous was an understatement. How was he to be received? Would he get a Prince's royal reception, or be immediately slammed into a jail cell? And his father. He was going to see his father again. Zuko hadn't seen or heard from Ozai since that ugly day _all the blood and the fire and the pain and the only person who followed me was Iroh…_

The procession stopped in front of the large, towering stone steps that led up, up, up to the grand entry way into the palace. The throne room was directly behind that, and that was the place Zuko would most likely meet his fate. Horses carrying guards and other important officers snorted and stomped the ground where they stood. The carriage creaked to a stop, and Zuko quickly dismounted, hurrying over to the black door. The driver quickly stepped out of the way as Zuko approached.

Katara almost cried in relief when it was Zuko who opened the door and led her out into the dimming sunlight, not a strange face who would take her away and keep her locked up somewhere where she couldn't make trouble. Taking his offered hand, she stepped shakily down from the carriage, and turned to face the imposing stone front of the palace.

"Ready?" Zuko asked her as they began the long climb up the steps to the grand hall.

"Are you?" She countered, making sure to hold up her skirt with the hand that wasn't tucked in his arm.

He had no answer to that.

Iroh followed a few steps behind them, and the rest of the officers and guards trailed behind. Every few steps, granite-faced guards were posted. None of them showed any emotion at all with the appearance of their exiled prince. They stared stonily ahead, doing their job and looking pretty threatening as they guarded the way up to the entrance of the Fire Palace.

As Katara climbed up each step, her resolve hardened. No more of this weak, shaky female act. She had never been one of those girls who fainted at the first sight of anything sharp, pointy, or scary. Once she stepped into that throne room, and they all learned who she was, she would become the representative of everything that was the Water Tribe. She would prove to these pompous Fire Nation people that the Water people weren't part of a deprived culture. The Water Tribe was just as civilized as the Fire nation, even though they didn't have fabulous palaces or glorious cities.

She looked discreetly to her side, where Zuko was fixed his steady eyes on the nearing towers of the entry. What could happen with Zuko by her side? She had the protection of the Royal Prince himself.

He looked over at her, and gave her a reassuring smile. Katara tightened her hand slightly on his arm. Really, what could go wrong? She trusted him. She trusted him with her life now.

Finally, they reached the top and continued through the enormous, ornately carved doors and down a red-carpeted hallway with statues and portraits of important kings and officials from the Fire Nation's history. Katara could feel the stares of the statues of every past Fire Lord boring down on her. _You don't belong_ was what they said. _You don't belong here. You don't belong with him._

A million thoughts flew through Zuko's mind as they neared the throne room doors guarded the Palace Guards. _Katara will be alright I hope… the Avatar will secure my position… When my father sees me…will he be happy?_

Nervousness and anticipation built up as Zuko walked closer and closer to everything he had been waiting for for three years.

And then the doors opened. Every single thought flew from Zuko's mind.

Zhao sat on the Fire Lord's great golden throne.

Ozai wasn't there.

The shock destroyed every other screaming realization from his head. Then, slowly Zuko began to think again. _Zhao_ was on the royal seat? _Commander Zhao?_ That throne was reserved only for those born of royal blood, not just any old bastard who needed to rest his legs! This was… this was _blasphemy!_

What the _fuck_ was Zhao doing on the Fire Lord's throne?

Slowly, anger and rage began to crowd out his disbelief. Zuko opened his mouth to say anything, anything at all to denounce Zhao for taking Zuko's birthright away from him.

But, as always, Zhao beat him to it.

"Welcome home, dear Prince." Zuko's enemy sneered from his royal seat. "I trust your arrest was to your liking?"

Katara gaped at Zhao and Zuko. She wasn't exactly an expert on Fire Nation diplomacy, but even she knew there was something wrong here. She turned to look at Zuko worriedly. How was he going to deal with this?

"Where is my father?" Was all Zuko could bite out.

"Oh, does the homesick little Prince miss his wonderful Daddy?" Zhao smirked. It wasn't very mature of him, but oh how long he'd waited to rub this in that ugly little Prince's face. Zuko didn't even deserve to be Fire Lord. He was much too soft.

Zuko could think of nothing to say. The enormous throne room was silent. He also noticed it was full of people dressed in ceremonial robes of court. Probably nobles and other peoples of influence that Zhao had invited in order to see Zuko shot down. Zhao had always loved to do things in front of an audience.

"Get off the throne." Zuko hissed, red filling his sight. "That's reserved for the royal family. Not commoners who happened to bribe their way into the influence of the court."

"Oh, but I _am_ the royal family, now, Zuko." Zhao looked down his nose at the Prince. "Or haven't you heard?"

Zuko definitely hadn't heard.

"I'm so sorry to be the one to tell you this," Zhao's expression was anything but sorry, "But your father passed away a month ago. Of burn injuries."

Everything made sense now. Why it was _Fire Lord _Zhao, instead of _Commander _Zhao. Why the guards outside had tried to discourage the crowds from cheering for the Prince's procession. Why Zhao was sitting on the royal throne. And why Zuko was under arrest, not because he was breaking his exile, but because he was a threat to the new Fire Lord Zhao.

Katara's mind quickly ran through cause-and-effect scenarios. If Ozai was dead… that meant Zuko should have been the rightful Fire Lord.

It hit her. Prince Zuko was no longer Prince Zuko. He was Fire Lord Zuko. _Zuko_ was the Fire Lord now. He was the king of the Fire Nation.

Except for one obstacle: Zhao.

"My father's death deeply sorrows me." Zuko said impassively. He'd have time to think about this later. Right now, diplomacy and manipulation were on his mind. "But that doesn't explain why you have taken over the ruling of what is rightfully now _my_ nation."

"You're going to argue inheritance with me?" Zhao looked like he couldn't decide whether he was angry or wanted to laugh. "Not take time off to mourn your poor dead father?"

_I would like time to just sit down and try to hold everything in me together_, Zuko thought silently, _But I'd like my kingdom more_.

"I am the rightful heir, Zhao, and I have returned from exile." Zuko said calmly. He pushed away all his emotions. They'd only get in the way now. Katara's hand tightened on his arm, and he was eternally grateful for her support.

Zhao had finally decided to laugh. "Return from exile? You have just broken the law, _Prince_ Zuko." He said the title as if it were an insult. "Or don't you remember the decree your father laid down?" Zhao didn't wait for an answer. "Let me refresh your memory." He leaned forward, as if eager to shoot Zuko down as soon as possible.

"Your father, the late Ozai, decreed that if his son, the crown Prince Zuko, had not fulfilled the terms of his exile by the time that his Majesty passed away, then _I_, Commander Zhao, his most trusted and loyal advisor," Zhao paused to laugh. "Would become the next Fire Lord of the Nation."

"And what would the terms of my exile be?" Zuko inquired, in a tone as if he were asking what the weather was like. Zhao thought he was in control and held all the cards. Well, that pompous throne-stealing bastard didn't know the cards Zuko held.

"Only one: To bring back the Avatar." Zhao finished, leaning back in what he thought was his hard-earned throne. "And as far as I can see, Zuko, you don't have him with you. Unless that woman standing next to you is the Avatar." Zhao sounded highly doubtful, and maybe even a little scared.

"That's where your wonderful plan goes wrong, _Commander_ Zhao." Zuko said, eyes clear and reasonable. "I've returned with the Avatar."

Katara turned to Zuko, confusion in her eyes. Did he mean to lie and pass _her_ off as the Avatar? That would never work, for she only knew water bending and Zhao would surely ask for proof. Of course she would have helped him get his birthright back but, really, the man could _warn_ her first if he wanted her to lie and pretend to be something she wasn't.

Zuko turned his attention to a disturbance and several soldiers coming through the crowd of officials and guards standing behind them. Katara turned as well, her eyes widened-

And time stopped.

She didn't hear the cry of outrage from Zhao. She didn't see the look of triumph in Zuko's eyes. She didn't hear the gasps of awe and amazement from the court.

All she saw were the silent shouting mouths of Aang and Sokka as they were dragged through the crowd by several Royal Guards and thrown to the floor at Zuko and Katara's feet. All she saw was the hurt and betrayal in Sokka's face, his mouth opening and closing "_How could you? How could you?_". And Aang, oh the poor boy, he was utterly confused and scared, collapsed on the ground with his hands tied behind him. He was blinking at her too, not saying anything, but it was all in his eyes _What's happening, Katara, what's happening?_

And all she could do was gape in shock, her mind wiped blank. She stared at the two boys on the floor in front of her. Two soldiers had to hold Sokka down in order to prevent him from leaping at either Zuko or Katara, she couldn't tell which. It was worse with Aang. He just sat there on the ground, head tilted slightly to one side, as confused to see her here as she was to see him. He'd expected her to be a prisoner, bound and humiliated like him, not dressed in royal finery and standing next to Zuko as if she were his equal.

Slowly, her senses returned to her. She could hear the murmurings and shouting of the court. Zhao, in a fit of rage, had risen from his throne, waving his sword wildly in the air and screaming at the guards to apprehend and arrest Zuko. Zuko, on the other hand, was yelling for the guards to apprehend and arrest Zhao. The poor soldiers were clearly confused, unsure of which Fire Lord they were supposed to follow.

Unwilling to believe anything that had just happened, Katara turned to the shouting Zuko, placing one hand timidly on his arm. He looked down at her, blinking confusedly, as if surprised to see she was there. Then realization dawned on him, and he put on his stony, diplomat face.

She didn't have to say anything. The expression on Katara's face asked a million questions.

"It had to be done." Zuko said calmly, removing her hand from his arm and placing it gently at her side again. She didn't move. "This was the best way."

_The best way for who?_ She wanted to scream. But it seemed that all her senses had dulled again. She refused to believe it. Not Zuko. Not after everything they'd done and everything he'd told her and all the time they'd spent together. It just wasn't _possible_.

She turned back to look blankly at Sokka and Aang at her feet. Sokka was still screaming, and Aang was still looking confused. Slowly, she dropped to her knees in front of them.

Sokka lunged at her, but the soldiers held him back with a bit of effort. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS? YOU BETRAYED US! YOU BETRAYED AANG! YOU'VE BETRAYED THE WHOLE _WORLD_!" He fell limp to the ground again, panting at staring at her, horror all over his face. "I'm your brother, Katara." He said hopelessly, as if trying to remind her of something.

She reached one hand out to him, trying to speak. "I didn't… this wasn't supposed to…" But something choked her throat.

And Aang… she couldn't even look at him.

The three figures sat silently on the ground, each wondering what they'd done to end up in this predicament. Wondering what had happened to their trio. Wondering what the other two people were thinking. They were the only silent people in a room full of shouting and screaming and confused Fire Nation citizens.

A hand descended on her upper arm, pulling Katara up firmly but gently. She knew just from the hostile glare Sokka threw behind her shoulder that it was Zuko. Katara stood upright, averting her eyes from Sokka and Aang on the floor, and walked as Zuko directed her. Docile as a trained animal, she felt Zuko's firm hand on her shoulder, leading her through decorated hallways and enormous rooms to some unknown destination. Along the way, he was continually giving out orders to his new staff, now that he was Fire Lord.

As they passed through another hall, Katara glanced up with glazed-over eyes and dimly saw all of the royal portraits on the walls. These were the paintings where kings posed with their wives and families. Somewhere in her shock-filled brain, she thought _None of them look happy at all. None of them are smiling, not even the children_.

Finally, Zuko brushed off all the hangers-on clamoring at him, and he opened a door that led into a grand bedroom. _And I thought the one on the ship was fancy_, Katara mused distantly.

Zuko pushed her down to sit on a velvet-upholstered couch. She stared empty-eyed up at him. _He lied to me. _She finally realized, as if awakening from a long, slow dream. _He betrayed me._

And she didn't do anything. She sat there, hands folded in her lap, head tilted slightly to the side, waiting for him to speak. She waited for him to justify himself, to giver her some sort of flimsy excuse, to try to convince her that he was in the right.

He did all of those things and none of those things.

"This was the best way." He said, face blank and neutral. "It was the best way."

_The best for who?_ She thought, for the second time today. But of course she said nothing. Her mouth was sealed shut by something she couldn't name.

Zuko left, shutting the door quietly behind him and locking it.

He didn't come back for the whole night. It was the first night in several weeks that Katara had slept alone. It was the first time since she was captured that they did not sleep together.

She lay in bed, wondering why she missed him. She wasn't supposed to.

* * *

**A/N:** Definitely one of the harder chapters to write. Obviously, many things happened in this chapter that will change the whole Z/K relationship. Tsk tsk tsk. Men can be bastards, yes? I'm sorry you never got to meet Ozai. I've planned from the beginning to kill him off. He would have been an unbelievably hard character to write, you know? The show gives me no information at all about him. It would have been like inventing a whole new character, which I really don't want to go into at this point. Plus, Zuko's Fire Lord now! 

The whole deal with Katara's father was explain here as well. I read on an Avatar site somewhere that her father left to fight the Fire Nation and Katara and Sokka haven't seen him since. I mean, her father went to fight the FIRE NATION, and here Katara is, living with the FIRE NATION PRINCE. There's gotta be some kind of drama and angst involved here...

Many people voted for the happy ending no sequel, and many people voted for bittersweet ending and sequel. Most people just want Z and K to end up together. Guess what? I do too. So I think I'll keep my own counsel on this subject. I didn't really count votes, but it was REALLY nice to get feedback and opinions on this.

It really amazes me how some of you take the time off of your busy lives to review my story. Especially several reviewers who give me huge, loooooong-ass reviews that completely blow me away. Really, guys, I totally appreciate it. This chapter is for all you reviewers! (like all the other chapters have been... lol) Till Chapter 13!


	13. Chapter 13: Take Me Away

**Chapter 13: Take Me Away**

Katara didn't sleep much that night. She stayed awake, wide eyes staring unblinkingly at the dark red canopy above her. She replayed the images of the earlier event from today in her mind over and over again, trying to make sense out of it.

Katara finally realized she was in denial.

And she hated herself for it. How could she have been so _stupid_? How could she have been so… _deluded_? So caught up in her own fairy-tale daydream that she had been unaware of what had been happening right under her own nose? Because of her idiotic _crush_ on that fucking _Zuko_, Aang and Sokka were imprisoned in some dank, dark cell underneath the Fire Palace right this minute. And she, on the other hand, was lying on soft bed sheets and an even softer mattress in a beautiful room fit for a king. Which was basically what it was.

She felt like slapping herself. And Zuko. How could that bastard _do_ this to her? It was betrayal at it's worse. He'd been lying all this time. How long had he'd kept Aang and Sokka on his ship, and not told her about it? How long had he kept it from her? What _more_ did he keep from her? It was all his fault. All that asshole's fault.

Katara tried to hold the tears back. Because it did hurt. It tore at her and she felt something twisting inside her chest. She was angry and raging and hurt. Anger and rage she could deal with. But pain had always been harder. The pain of _I thought there was something! I really thought we had something but Zuko went and blew it oh he blew it_.But she knew he hadn't really. It wasn't all Zuko's fault. It was her fault too. For not seeing through him, and for betraying her brother and friend. And, of all the worst things, for giving into temptation. There was no way around it. Katara had given her whole being to him, and he had repaid her by slapping it all back in her face with the revelation that he had possessed Aang and Sokka the entire time.

She struggled with herself, trying to hold back the tears unsuccessfully. What had he been thinking when he'd taken her virginity? _You dumb girl, you think everything's perfect at this moment when in reality, I have your friend and brother locked in a cell right below this very bed_. That's what he'd probably thought of at the time. And she'd played the innocent, the naïve, the stupid, believing in his every action, all the way down to the fake lies he'd whispered to her.

She was no better than Zuko.

This was it. She wasn't going to do nothing about it this time. She had to get her priorities in order again. Katara cursed herself for being the weak, spineless fool she'd been. So stupid as to not realize that yes, Zuko was still her enemy. And nothing, _nothing_ would ever change that.

* * *

Zuko spent his first night as Fire Lord dealing with all the little details that came with being Lord Zuko. Preparations had to be made for his coming rule, taxes and trade agreements from previous years had to be read over and understood. Millions of other matters crowded his mind and effectively kept him from thinking of other, more important things.

Not the least of which was the fact that in the confusion of the conflict in the throne room earlier that night, Zhao had unexpectedly disappeared. He was nowhere to be found in the castle or the city. His things were gone, and nobody had seen the slippery man leave.

It worried Zuko. Zhao wasn't the type of man to accept defeat quietly and graciously. No doubt the former Commander would be back, claiming injustice and blistering for a fight.

Meanwhile, Zuko had him stripped of all his titles. Zhao's money and property were also seized.

Plus the little matter of the decree that went out, proclaiming Zhao a traitor and enemy to the Fire Nation. A handsome reward would be given to whoever brought him in, alive or _dead_. Preferably alive, but Zuko wasn't too picky about the details. It didn't really matter anyway- Zhao would be back soon enough, whether of his own free will or not.

Zuko didn't return to his room all night. He told himself that he was far too busy to be allowed the luxury of sleep. So he busied himself with kingly matters, until his eyes drooped closed and he felt that he had to rest his head on the desk, but only for a little while…

Next thing he knew, bright daylight was pouring through the window and Iroh stood on the other side of his desk, staring pensively down at his nephew.

"Good morning, Your Majesty." Iroh said quietly, waiting for Zuko's reaction.

The aforementioned Majesty looked at his uncle irritably before rubbing his eyes with one hand. "What?" He snapped.

"You're now the most powerful man in the world, Zuko." Iroh cracked a small grin. "Surely you can begrudge a poor subject like me a few more words than 'what'".

Zuko leaned back in his chair, catching his uncle's first few words. _Most powerful man…_

"I notice you didn't go back to your room last night."

Zuko quickly pushed his chair back and stood up, tension in every line of his body. "Shut up." He said, trying to sound easy and relaxed about it. But Iroh could detect a hint of taut emotion beneath his voice.

"Whatever you say, Your Majesty." Iroh smiled back.

"Exactly." Zuko joked. Just kept it light and easy. Light and easy, and he would be fine.

Iroh smiled again. Hopefully Zuko would be in a good mood for his first day as sovereign of the nation.

"If you'll excuse me, dear uncle, I have more business I need attend to." Zuko said, moving towards the door. Iroh bowed with mock respect, flourishing his arm out in a flurry for Zuko. Zuko rolled his eyes. If his uncle kept on doing that whole "Your Majesty!" thing, it would get old. But he supposed he had to get used to it. People would act just like Iroh was acting right now, except with real sincerity. It was a bit strange to him. But that bastard Zhao had probably enjoyed the attention, Zuko thought darkly.

Zuko walked through the hallways of his castle towards his room, located on the third floor of the east wing. It was his castle now. Not his father's, not Zhao's, but his. He reached the wide double doors that led into his bedroom suite. The doors were flanked by two stone dragons on either side.

_Most powerful man in the world_, he mused distantly. _It doesn't sound too bad_.

He turned the knob on one door, opening it.

One second later, a valuable vase whistled through the air straight at his face.

He ducked in reflex to avoid it, and it crashed into the wall behind him, splintering into a million pieces and leaving a slight dent in the wall where there had been none before. _That could have been my head!_

Zuko turned back, mouth gaping, to see the angry-looking girl who was heaving another expensive heirloom into her arms. This time, it was a heavy gold candleholder. A violent glare on her face, she flung it straight at his head.

He caught it one-handed, and set it down gently on the dresser next to him.

Katara clenched her teeth together to keep from screaming. Why did that man have to be so damn _good_? Why couldn't he just _let her_ hit him for once?

Zuko had to admit, he was very surprised. He'd never known Katara to get so violent before. What could possibly have happened to bring about her change of… oh. He would have been unbelievably stupid to expect that Katara would take this lying down.

He moved quickly towards her, eager to prevent the further destruction of his possessions. Since when had he had so much junk in his room in the first place? He was definitely going to fire all the interior decorators later. Zuko raised one hand out in a placating fashion. "Katara-"

She'd hefted a heavy, metal, ceremonial sword into her hands. The blade drooped on the ground. It was obviously too heavy for her. "Don't come near me!" She snarled.

The threat would have been _so _much more threatening if she wasn't struggling to merely lift the sword off the ground. Zuko reached out to touch her shoulder, to calm her down, but she flinched out of the way, finally abandoning the weapon. She backed away, frantically searching for anything else that would serve as a suitable throwing item. Eyeing the jade-green teapot on one table, she picked it up and got ready to throw it.

She was _clearly_ beyond all reasoning, Zuko thought, two seconds before the teapot flew past his ear. Nothing to do now except forcibly hold her down.

Katara read his intentions on his face and scrambled to get away, but not before he shot forward and grabbed her upper arms, pulling her closer to him. She struggled, pushing at his chest. "Don't _touch _me!" She hissed.

Zuko fought to control the crazy wildcat in his grip. "You seemed to like it enough before!" He snarled back, refusing to release his bruising grip on her arms.

"That was _before_ I knew you were a lying bastard!"

He finally let her go, and they stood glaring at each other, rubbing bruises and scratches. He gave her a small, tight smile. "You always knew I was a lying bastard, Katara. You just chose not to believe it."

_Damn_, Katara thought angrily. _He's right_. _I deluded myself into thinking he wasn't an asshole with no morals_. She couldn't say anything to that, just continued glaring silently.

"Furthermore, not telling you something does not technically count as lying." He gazed clear-eyed at her. Zuko would keep his head in this conversation. He had done nothing wrong. Nothing at all.

"But it's just as bad!" She shouted. "Not telling me something is just as bad as lying about it! Silence can be lies!"

"That's _your_ opinion." He said tightly. "_I _was just trying to keep you safe."

"Keep me _safe_?" She sounded incredulous. "_Safe from what_!"

"From getting hurt."

Her eyes flashed. "And what do you think I am _now_, idiot? You didn't do a very good job of keeping me from getting _hurt_." She said with a sneer of derision.

"You must understand, Katara." He said calmly, pinning her under his gaze. "The war's situation is about to change very fast. You don't want to be on the losing side when it all explodes."

"The _losing_ side!"

"Yes. By keeping you with me, under my protection, you won't be harmed or killed when the Fire Nation finishes it's takeover of the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes. You'll be safe." Zuko said it all in a matter-of-fact voice.

Katara stared. He was insane. He was mad if he thought she was just going to accept this and agree with every little word out of his royal mouth. "What if I don't _want_ to be on your side? What if I don't _believe_ your side is winning?"

"How could you not? We have the Avatar, our enemy's only hope. We're well on the road to victory. Besides, you have no choice."

"I have no _choice_?" Katara's eyes widened, then narrowed again. "_Watch me!_"

She hurled herself at the open doors, trying to escape out into the hallway and away from this dreadful place, even though she knew it was hopeless.

Zuko's strong hand got her wrist and jerked her backwards so fast she got whiplash. He spun her around, holding her wrist high above her head so the hand was rendered immobile. She reached up with her other hand to slap him hard across the face, but he caught that wrist too. "Where do you think you're going?" He said, in a friendly conversational tone that scared Katara more than if he had used an angry voice.

Katara tried to kick him, without success. "To find my brother! To find Aang! To join _my _side, where people actually _deserve_ my trust and loyalty!" She wrenched around, trying to free herself, but Zuko just held on tighter. "To get away from _you!_"

He pulled her closer, close enough so that their faces were almost touching. She stilled, staring up into his face.

"That," He said gently. "Will be impossible."

She blinked at him for a moment, confused.

Then he flung her back onto the couch where she landed, bouncing a bit on the pillows. She continued to gawk at him. He was definitely insane. Most definitely.

"You're going to have to stay here for the time being." He said, turning back around to leave the room.

Gathering her wits again, Katara launched herself from the sofa at the doors, which Zuko was quickly closing behind him. "No!" She shrieked. "I won't stay here! I _won't_! You can't keep me inside! You have no _right_!"

Katara pounded against the door futilely. She heard a low laugh from the other side and stopped.

"No _right_?" He laughed again. "Do you know who I am, Katara?"

She was momentarily confused. What did he mean by that question? He was Zuko, of course…

"I'm Fire Lord now. King, Emperor, Sovereign, Ruler, Monarch, Dictator, God. What's the difference in a few titles?" He paused for a second, clearly enjoying himself. "What it means is that I have the right to do _anything_ I want. Including keeping you in this room." And with that, he turned the lock and walked away from the desperate girl on the other side of the door.

Katara heard his footsteps growing fainter and fainter. She back away from the door, looking at it as if the carved wood was the man who had shocked and surprised her.

It had all gone to his head. All the power he now had. Zuko would become a tyrant just like his father, if nobody stopped him in time.

_So what?_ Katara thought defiantly. _It's not my job to keep him in line. I'm not his freaking nursemaid. It's somebody else's problem if Zuko becomes a ruthless Fire Lord._ _I don't have to do anything about it_.

Then who would?

She realized it. It was, technically, Aang's job. He was the Avatar, the one destined to bring balance to the world. And if bringing balance meant destroying a tyrannical, power-hungry Fire Lord, then Aang would have to do it.

But the Avatar was currently locked up in a dungeon under the Fire Palace, unable to do anything.

And whose job would it be to free him? Whose _responsibility_ was it to free the Avatar, and indirectly save the world?

Katara groaned.

Escape had to be first. The doors were out- they were firmly locked. The windows, maybe? She hurried over to the floor-to-ceiling, smudge-free windows that lined one wall of the gigantic room. Testing the lock on one of them, her spirits fell as she realized these were locked shut too. She moved down the row, testing every single one of them. All of them might as well have been welded shut.

But glass was always breakable. Picking up one of the remaining heavy gold candleholders (one of which she'd previously flung at Zuko), she weighed it in her hand, considering the odds. No doubt if she broke the glass and escaped from the windows, there would be a large commotion. Someone would definitely spot a girl climbing out of a broken, third-story window that also happened to be the Fire Lord's room. She'd have to do it in the dark of night, when there would be less people around to see her. But she'd also have to do it before Zuko came back, if he was coming back at all.

Returning to the windows, she peered over the edge as best as she could. It was a long, long drop to the ground. She could spot the edges of several ledges sticking out of the red-brown stone below her window. Those would be useful. But still… a rope of some sort would be an added security. Saving the world was a great idea, but if she could manage it without breaking any limbs, it'd be even better.

Making her final decision, she walked purposefully over to the bed, stripping off the first few red sheets on the top. Bending down to the sword she'd dropped previously on the floor, she proceeded to rip several strips from the cloth along the sharp edge of the weapon. She had all day to make herself a serviceable rope.

Katara busied her hands and mind with the task, and tried not to think about anything else. Especially not the cold emotion Zuko had when he'd dealt with her, and especially not the looks of betrayal on Sokka and Aang's faces from yesterday. She just focused on getting herself out of here. Then she could work on fixing everything else.

* * *

Aang surveyed his new cell. Definitely better than the old one on the ship, but not exactly five-star accommodations either. "How does your room look, Sokka?" He called to the boy in the next cell over.

No answer.

"Sokka? Are you okay?"

Silence. Then a bit of shuffling. "Did you see her, Aang?"

"See who?" Stupid question. Aang was stalling, trying to keep the situation from careening out of control.

"Katara, of course!" Sokka hissed, emotion creeping into his voice. "You know, Aang, I really thought I knew my sister well. I thought we were close, closer than most siblings are."

It was Aang's turn to be silent. What could he say?

"But I guess not." The older boy continued his rant. "Because the Katara _I_ know, the Katara who is my sister, would never have betrayed us. She would have died before she did that."

"Sokka-"

"Don't make excuses for her, Aang!" Sokka's voice rose.

_I wasn't going to_, Aang thought silently. _But I guess you're so caught up in your assumptions that you don't want anyone standing up for your sister now_.

"I wonder where she got that dress." Sokka's voice was bitter. "We never had the money to buy that kind of fanciness back in our Water Tribe." A clang against the metal bars of Sokka's cell. "And all that gold jewelry. I wonder where she got that?" He seemed to be waiting for an answer.

"I don't kno-" Aang started.

"_Zuko_!" Sokka snarled, cutting Aang off. "_Zuko, that's who!_ Zuko, that rich pompous ass gave her all that finery! I wonder what she did, to get so many rewards from him. I wonder what she did in order to get her hands on all those riches!"

Aang really didn't like where this was going. No doubt the guards outside could hear every word. "Umm-"

"She _betrayed_ us, that's what!" Sokka seemed in a right fit of rage by now. "She sold us for a dress and some bangles! She's living in luxury, eating delicacies, sleeping on fine silk sheets while we're rotting away in a freaking jail cell!"

"SOKKA!" Aang yelled, finally shutting up his friend. "Sokka, listen to me!" He waited to make sure Sokka was silent before continuing. "Do you remember the look on her face when she saw us? She looked pretty confused to me. She looked like she didn't expect us to be there at all." He said it all in a rush. Was he naïve to think that Katara was still innocent? Sokka seemed ready to believe in the worst.

"Well, what did she expect? A happy little family reunion? If so, why didn't she just- why didn't-" Sokka sounded like he was choking. Was he _crying_? "Why didn't she just _tell_ me?"

"I think… I think she was trying to, Sokka." Aang said gently. "But she was just as shocked to see us as we were to see her. And… and you wouldn't stop yelling at her."

But Sokka seemed beyond words now. Through the darkness, Aang could see the Water Tribe boy's shaking shoulders. Muffled sounds floated into Aang's cell.

The Avatar leaned back against he cold stone wall, his chains clinking. He felt so unbelievably guilty now. What had his best friends done to deserve this? They'd had a perfectly fine life before he'd come along and ruined everything. Now they were all trapped in a situation that they couldn't get out of. Aang felt that old, heavy burden fall on his small shoulders again. The guilt of ruining the lives of everybody he came in contact with.

* * *

Zuko met up with Iroh to eat lunch.

"Did you see Katara this morning?" Iroh asked casually, flipping his napkin over his lap.

"Yes." Zuko answered. If his uncle wanted to know more, he'd have to ask for it.

"Was that broken vase in the hallway outside your room originally meant for your head?"

He groaned inwardly. Why did his uncle have to be so damn perceptive? "Yes. She has fairly good aim as well. If my reflexes had been any slower, I wouldn't be here right now, and she would be all the happier for having nailed me."

"That bad, huh?"

"Unfortunately."

Iroh grinned. Zuko seemed to be handling it all well, with a certain degree of humor to boot. "It's probably that time of the month. Mood swings, you know?"

And Zuko froze. A cold feeling of foreboding washed through him.

Iroh kept on jabbering on in the background. But Zuko's mind was tuned out, racing through hundreds of possibilities. He was no expert on a woman's menstrual cycle, but he wasn't an ignorant man either. Katara had been with him for over a month and a half by now. When was the first time they'd actually… _slept_ together? He counted through the time, all the while convincing himself there was nothing to be worried about. Three weeks. Three weeks while they had traveled to the Fire Nation from Menthat.

Fear gripped him. And the entire time, Katara hadn't had her period. He would've known. The sheets would have been stained red, or she would have asked him, a little shyly, where she could get extra linens or something to catch the blood. He would have _known_. She couldn't have kept it a secret from him. She didn't need to. She couldn't have asked a woman servant for help- Katara had been the only woman on board the flagship at the time. He would have been her only confidante. What was the average time between a woman's bleeding?

He slowly relaxed his hands, which had been clenched before. Maybe Katara's cycles came farther apart. Maybe she'd figured out some way to hide it. Maybe it came today, or maybe tomorrow.

Iroh's voice finally broke through his thoughts. "-and she seemed like she just _hated_ my guts the entire week, you know? Hey? Zuko?"

Zuko focused his gaze on Iroh's face. "Oh, sorry, Iroh. What was it again?"

"I said, Katara's just probably in her time right now. That's why she's acting strange."

Zuko gave his uncle an easy smile. Hell, if Katara wasn't worried about it, he wasn't going to waste time over it. He was being paranoid over nothing. "You're right, uncle. It probably is just her time of the month."

* * *

When lunch was brought by a timid knock on the door, Katara scurried to hide all of her hard work underneath the bed. Composing herself and giving one more quick glance around to make sure nothing incriminating was still out in the open, she crossed to the door and spoke clearly, "I can't let you in. It's locked."

The door opened for whoever had the key on the other side. Katara gaped a bit in surprise. It was Kaz again, that same servant who had been with her since she'd first been kidnapped. He was carrying a tray with food on it, some sort of brunch, since she hadn't had breakfast either. About time he'd arrived.

She took the tray silently from him and placed it on the table. "Thank you, Kaz."

He gave her a shy smile. "You remember me?"

Katara analyzed him quickly. The serving boy couldn't have been more than twelve years old. Around Aang's age, she realized. What was he doing working in a palace at such a young age? "Of course I do."

He nodded again, cheeks flushing red. Then Kaz's gaze locked on something behind her, on the floor. He froze.

Katara whirled around quickly, and realized with dismay that she hadn't hid her cloth rope well enough. An end of it peaked out from under the bed. Kaz's eyes roamed over the rumpled, remaining half-sheet on the bed. Katara wanted to slap herself. How could she have been so stupid?

She took a step toward him, arms held out pleadingly. "Kaz-"

He shook his head frantically, as if trying to erase the image from his eyes. He wasn't a stupid boy, and had come to the obvious conclusion after seeing the rope.

Katara tried again. "Please don't-"

Kaz backed away from her slowly, towards the door.

"Kaz!" She tried one more time, desperately. "Please! Please listen to me!"

He finally stopped, watching her with a wary look.

"Don't tell anyone. Please." She gave him the most helpless look she could muster. "You have to understand. I can't stay here anymore."

"Then you should just tell Lord Zuko that." He averted his eyes. "I have nothing to do with this."

"_Lord Zuko_ is the reason I'm here in the first place." Katara hissed, then softened again when she saw she was frightening him. "Look, Kaz. Look, you can help me. I know you have the key to get into this room. You can help me escape, and no one would be the wiser." If he would only listen to her. Oh, then everything would be so much easier.

Kaz straightened up suddenly. He gave her a look that said _I'm not stupid, lady_. "Pardon me, miss, but that's not true. The cook and three guards know I'm up here to give you lunch. They'd put two and two together when they find out you're gone right after you had lunch served to you." Kaz looked her in the eye, a sincere apology in his face. "I'm sorry, miss, but I can't lose my job. My family needs me."

She was shocked for a minute. So that's why a 12 year old boy was working as a servant in the royal household. And she couldn't blame him for not letting her go. She couldn't blame him for not helping her. He had his own interests to look after, his own _family_ to look after.

Katara slumped into her seat again. "Alright." Damn her conscience. She could try forcing her way past him, but he'd still get in trouble for letting Lord Zuko's prisoner get away. He'd lose his job definitely, if not worse. And then she'd feel guilty the rest of her life for it.

"But," He continued. Katara looked up. "I won't tell anyone about your… plan. I won't help you, but I won't reveal you either."

She nodded mutely. This was as good as it was going to get.

"Besides, not telling about your plan isn't technically the same as lying." He grinned at her.

And she would have grinned back, had she not heard those exact same words from Zuko not three hours ago. He'd used it as an excuse for his betrayal, and now Kaz was using it as an excuse to help her. How odd, that she could hate the words so much coming from one person, while she was eternally grateful hearing it from another. _This world is seriously fucked up_, she thought distantly. _Or is it just me?_

Kaz didn't understand why the lady looked so sad when he said that. Shouldn't she be happy that he wasn't going to tell on her?

Katara finally smiled at him. "Thank you, Kaz."

"It's nothing compared to what you did for me." He said, serious again. "That money you gave me on the ship, miss, I gave to my family. We'll be able to eat for weeks and weeks, and maybe buy a crib for the new baby." He beamed at her. "Thank you so much!"

Katara would never have realized how much she'd helped this boy by giving him money on a small whim. She'd done it mostly to piss Zuko off, but it had done more good than she ever thought it would. There was, perhaps, a silver lining to every storm cloud.

Before Kaz left, he gave one more glance around the room. In itself, the lady's room was bigger than his family's meager living quarters. Why would Lord Zuko keep her locked up? Why would she _want_ to leave this beautiful place? She had everything a person would ever need. But Kaz didn't write her off as a greedy, spoiled brat. She seemed genuinely sorrowed about something. Maybe she missed her family. Why was she here in the first place?

He had one more question for her. "Excuse me, miss, but are you and the Lord Zuko going to get married?" She just stared at him. He himself couldn't imagine the power and luxury of being royalty. This woman really had everything going for her.

She didn't answer the question. All she did was laugh a broken, choking laugh that let Kaz know he'd said the wrong thing.

* * *

Zuko and Iroh spent majority of the day shuffling through the records of the palace archives, reading over everything that had happened during the years they'd been absent. The tax records, the amount of agriculture produced, how much money had gone into building weaponry, the cost of renovations to public buildings, and other things involving the nation. They also read over recent documents written in Zhao's short, one-month rule. Spending for the army had increased dramatically during that time. Obviously Zhao had thought the Fire Nation army needed more funding for ships, supplies, and other warfare items.

It was night when they finally finished making a mess of the archives room, much to the dismay of the head scribe. They sat down in a small dining room for some of Iroh's herbal tea.

"Ahhh…" Iroh said, breathing in the smell of the tea. "I've missed this."

Zuko said nothing, just wrapped his hands around the warm mug and contemplated the green liquid inside. What did those fortune tellers say about reading tea leaves? Oh well. Like his fortune could be read from a couple limp vegetables in the bottom of his cup.

He was remembering his and Zhao's conversation from yesterday when something caught at his mind. "Zhao said my father died from burn injuries."

Iroh nodded slowly. Inside, he wondered how his nephew was taking the news of his father's death. Pretty well, it seemed. After all, there had been no love lost between the father and son. "That's what I gather too, from speaking to the nobles and advisors present at the time."

The irony of burn injuries escaped neither man. Being killed by your own fire wasn't exactly the best way to go out. It usually meant the dead person had lost control of his emotions and ended up burning and killing himself.

Zuko's hands clenched the cup tightly all of a sudden. "I wasn't expecting his death." He said, voice tight with some emotion. Iroh kept silent. His nephew obviously needed to talk about something. "In fact, I didn't even want it." Zuko stopped. "Wait. Maybe I did. Maybe I did need him to die."

As callous and horrible as it sounded, Iroh understood. Zuko would never have been able to live life the way he wanted if his father had been breathing down his neck every moment. Even an ocean away for three years, Zuko had still felt the ominous presence of his father during his exile. After all, his father was the whole reason he'd left Kotzut in the first place. And now his father was gone. Dead. Zuko would never have to deal with the man again.

The new Fire Lord started again. "But burn injuries… that's just- that's just _pathetic_."

Iroh nodded slowly. It was. Ozai had been a powerful Fire Bender, and every Fire Bender in the world would have been shamed to die from fire. Being killed by your own element wasn't an honorable or brave way to leave the world.

That's why the burn on Zuko's face was such a shame to him. Even though it hadn't been self-inflicted, other Fire Benders looked at his face and thought _that guy lost control_. He hated it when people stared. He hated it because they never understood, _couldn't_ understand, that the scarred burn was the memory of something extremely painful, more painful than fire.

Any further revelations on Ozai's death was interrupted when a messenger, really only a young soldier, came rushing into the room so fast he stopped only when he ran into the table, overturning the cups of tea. Hot liquid spilled everywhere, and Iroh stood up, swearing and batting at his clothes.

Zuko turned to the messenger, prepared to yell at him for disturbing them, but the soldier quickly panted out his message through his heavy breathing. "Your Majesty… there was- was a loud crash in your room- something broke the windows… not ten minutes ago… I couldn't find you anywhere- that's why… late."

Before he'd even finished, Zuko had shot up from his seat, locking eyes with Iroh. They both knew what had probably happened.

"_Damn _her." Zuko swore. He'd known she'd been pissed this morning, but not mad enough to go and pull something like _this_!

He raced from the room, closely followed by Iroh and soldier. Even though he knew he'd be wasting his time, he hurried up two flights of stairs and across one wing of the palace to his room. She was probably already gone from the palace grounds if it'd taken ten minutes for the message to reach him. He panted slightly finally arrived outside his door. Why was the castle so goddamn _big_? Whose idea had it been anyway to build it so huge? He fumbled with the lock and shoved the door open so hard it rebounded slightly off the inside wall, shattering another vase.

He saw what he had been expecting to see. One glass window had a large jagged hole smashed through it's bottom pane. Zuko spied one end of the rope tied to the wooden bedpost. It led through the window, and he jogged over, avoiding the glass pieces on the floor. The make-shift rope led all the way down to the ground, still waving slightly in the air from its previous use. He fingered it, recognizing it to be material from the bed sheets. True enough, bare mattress peeked out from under the blanket when he turned back to check.

He looked out at the view the windows granted him. Green, landscaped lawn laid out around the large castle reached to the edge of the dark trees at the borders of the grounds. Forest surrounded the remaining land. Land had been cleared for the city and the building of the palace, but the remaining trees still stood in a large mass surrounding civilization. Most likely she'd disappeared into the trees. If she was still running across the lawn, he couldn't see her. The waning crescent of the moon only afforded so much light in the dark.

Zuko clenched his teeth together to keep from screaming in frustration and anger. He whirled back around and left through the door, Iroh and the soldier jogging closely behind him again. Ignoring his followers, Zuko jogged all the way down to the stables located at the back of the castle, and was greeted by two stable hands.

"Get me my horse!" He snapped, then turned around to see that four more confused soldiers had followed him outside. "You four! Come with me." They ran to get their own horses. Zuko turned to Iroh and the remaining messenger, both panting heavily. "Uncle, take this soldier with you to make sure the Avatar's still securely locked up. Increase the guard in that section of the cells." Zuko wasn't taking any chances with any of his prisoners tonight.

When his horse was ready, he swung up into the saddle and looked around, making sure his escort was here and ready to go as well. They rode at a full-out gallop towards the forest, speeding over the grass. The horses would make a bit of noise crashing through the trees, but _speed_ was of the essence now.

He wouldn't let her get away. Not now. Not when everything had been going so well for him.

* * *

Katara stumbled a bit over a tree root, but caught her balance again and sped at a full-out run through the forest, away from the palace behind her. She was breathing heavily now, having run for fifteen straight minutes at top speed. Somebody would have heard the noise by now, and alerted Zuko. They were probably coming after her right this minute. She wasn't safe yet.

Getting out of the window and down the side of the wall had been easy enough for her. After touching the ground, she'd immediately lit off for the forest, not pausing to check if anyone had noticed her or was chasing her. She reached trees and dove into the darkness, feeling infinitely more secure here. It would be much harder for Zuko to find her here. Not like on the flat green lawn, where she had been nothing to hide under, no shadows to disappear into.

The moon didn't afford much light tonight, and Katara tripped several times, but always got back up again and kept running. She didn't know whether to be grateful or not for the darkness. It meant she had a harder time finding her path, but it would also mean her pursuers would have a harder time catching her. It was almost the dark of the new moon, the next night, the moon would disappear entirely. And according to the moon's cycles, her period should have come-

She stopped short of planting face-first into a spider web stretched out between two trees. But she didn't notice the frantic little silver arachnid crawling on the thin threads of the web.

Katara willed her legs to run again, away from those who wished to capture her. She didn't have the luxury of time right now. She couldn't stop to think. She'd have to do it while she ran. Katara tried reassuring herself. Really, her blood had come late before. She couldn't pinpoint the exact date when it would arrive. It'd probably come tomorrow, or the day after. It wasn't the new moon yet. She had time.

But, as of now, she'd run out. Aside from her own thrashings through the leaves, she could hear the pounding of hooves that had started faint but was getting louder and louder. The hunter had arrived.

And she had to keep ahead of him. Katara picked up her speed, her lungs feeling like they were bursting, trying not to slip on leaves beneath her feet. Tree trunks flashed by her, and she could feel the minutes ticking away. What was it now, twenty minutes since she'd left the castle? It really didn't matter anymore.

_Run, run, run_. She chanted over and over again in her mind. _Run, run, run_. But too soon, she threw a furtive glance behind her and saw the flash of a horse's brown flank through the leaves. _No!_

She veered away from the horse behind her, picking a completely random direction. Soon, she felt that she'd lost her pursuer. She kept running, hoping that the direction she'd picked wouldn't lead her around in a circle.

Katara was slowing, she knew it. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, even harder to keep up her previous pace.

Through the dark green leaves, she caught the silver flash of a horse's bridle on her left. _No!_ It wasn't possible! He couldn't have caught up that fast! Were there more of them? Had Zuko sent an entire search party out for her?

Knowing she couldn't go on for much longer, Katara finally dropped back behind a tree, and the horse thundered past. Her best chances lay in hiding now, not running. Still shaking from exertion, she dropped under a leafy green bush and pressed her back against the tree trunk. She wormed herself between two great tree roots, not caring about dirt or bugs anymore. All that mattered was hiding until the danger was past. Katara crouched in the soil, trying to control the trembling of her muscles and the harshness of her breathing. All she had to do now was wait.

* * *

"She's in the area, my Lord." The soldier saluted to Zuko. "We've formed a large perimeter around her. She won't get out of the circle without us knowing."

Zuko kept his voice tight and under control. "Do you know her exact location?"

"No, sir. But she is in the area."

Zuko gave a slight nod. "In the area" could mean anything. He'd have to do the detail searching by himself. The rest of the soldiers were scattered about, making sure nothing got past their guard. "Keep your positions. Don't move until I come back." Without waiting for an answer, Zuko nudged his horse into a walk, leaving the soldier behind and continuing his search for Katara.

Damn her. Who did that bitch think she was? Thinking she could just _leave_ like that and not expect him to know and come after her? It was a hopeless plan. She'd never make it anywhere, and she especially wouldn't be able to rescue her friends. All she'd done was get him even more pissed off at her. He wanted her back, and he wanted her back _now_.

Zuko scanned the area around him. A single flash of cloth, of bare skin, of dark hair and he would spot it, even in the shadows.

* * *

Katara held her breath as the horse and rider drew nearer and nearer to her hiding place. She dearly hoped it wasn't Zuko. If a soldier caught her, she might have a chance of getting away. But not if Zuko did. If Zuko got her, then he'd never let go.

She grew tenser and tenser as twigs cracked under the heavy hooves of the horse. Every primitive instinct screamed through her body. Fight or flight. She obviously couldn't fight. So that left running and escaping. She had to clamp down on the urge to spring out from the tree roots and dash off, away from danger. Being cornered wasn't good for the prey. It meant almost certain death for the prey once the hunter found you. And if Zuko found her here, Katara would most definitely be cornered.

She held back the urge to run, so hard until she was physically grabbing her legs and forcing them to stay still. Instinct was overpowering her._ Run run run run run _was the mindless chant in her head. Katara shifted to rest on her legs, in a firmly kneeling position.

Zuko's eyes caught the flash of dark shining hair through the leaves in a bush not far away. And he knew for sure that she was hiding there. He knew it with a scary certainty. But he didn't stop or change his direction. He had to pretend he didn't know she was there, so that Katara wouldn't panic and slip away before he had a chance to get closer. Zuko gently changed his horse's direction until he would pass by the bush with a bit of distance. Just keep it calm and steady. Calm and steady, and she won't suspect a thing.

Katara almost couldn't bear it when the horse started drawing closer and closer. Each step the large animal took meant her freedom was slipping away. She'd be cornered and unable to run anywhere.

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. With a gasp of breath, she sprung from the bush and took off at a dead run away from her hiding place. The short rest had given her a new burst of energy.

Zuko's head turned at the exact moment Katara tore from the shadows, and he was after her in less than a second.

Katara heard the pounding of hooves behind her, and she cursed herself for having run. _If you'd stayed in the bush, he wouldn't have noticed you! Stupid girl!_ There was almost no hope now. The horse was faster than her, and it was gaining quickly.

Zuko bent low over his horse's neck, intent on the speeding figure and whipping ponytail of Katara in front of him. _Almost there, almost there_.

Katara let out a cry of fear as the horse drew nearer. It was practically on top of her! It'd crush her first if the rider didn't pull back soon. Fear for her life gave her more speed, not just fear of capture again.

Zuko had the same idea as well. The horse would just get in the way of physically apprehending Katara. In one smooth move, he leapt from the back of the horse, landing on the ground at a run, without a single misstep. If he had been in any other situation, he might have congratulated himself on the nice maneuver. As it was, he just focused on chasing the girl in front of him. And it wasn't all that hard. Katara had been running for the better part of a half hour. Zuko had been sitting atop a horse, resting and letting the animal do all the work. He had all his strength, while Katara had used all hers, and must be fleeing on pure adrenaline by now.

Katara heard the hoof beats stop, and the pounding of human feet behind her. So the rider was pursuing her on foot now? She didn't know whether this was better or worse. Whatever it was, she didn't have the time to turn around and see who it was. She focused all her energy on putting one foot before the other, dodging branches, and weaving through tree trunks. If she could only _lose_ the chaser, she would be home free.

Zuko cursed as branches slapped his face. He punched them out of his way, focused Katara. He could clearly see that she was beginning to slow. She had to be getting tired.

Then Katara committed the deadly mistake of the night. Her foot caught on a protruding piece of rock, tipping her forward. Not enough to bring her to the ground, but enough to wrench a sound of despair from her throat and knock her rhythm and run out of order. She knew it was the end, but she tried to regain her footing and continue.

Zuko caught the ungainly movement. It was his chance.

He closed the distance between them, and planting his feet mid-run, he leapt through the air and came down right on top of Katara, knocking them both violently to the ground.

Katara shrieked as his hands first pushed her into the ground, then all her breath _whooshed_ out in one painful gasp when Zuko's heavy weight came down hard on her back, planting her front-first into the dirt. Her ribs ached throbbingly where she'd landed on roots and rocks, and she had no breath left in her lungs. She couldn't breathe, couldn't make a sound, but she immediately flipped under him onto her back to kick him, scratch him, do anything to get him off her.

Zuko hissed in pain as she turned and swiped at his face with her nails. They gouged deep scratches into the scarred side of his face; no doubt he was bleeding now. He caught the hand that had done the harm and pinned it to the ground with more force than necessary, snarling in rage. Both of them were beyond words by now.

Katara gasped heavily, trying to breathe again and refill her lungs with air. Her other hand was still free and she tried punching and slapping him, to no avail. Finally she raised her leg and kneed him _hard_ in the stomach, which was a bit further north than she'd originally aimed, but beggars couldn't be choosers in a situation like this.

But it was almost as painful, and he lifted up off her for just a second to get away from her knee, but that was all she needed. Wrenching her wrist out of his grasp, she slipped out from underneath him, turning to run again. _I'm free! Just keeping running now, and I'm free!_

Zuko couldn't believe she'd gotten away so fast, but just as she was turning to leave, he ignored the pain in his face and stomach, and reached up to grab the end of her hair as it whipped past. Katara cried out, her head and neck snapping back when he snatched her hair. _Damn him!_

She turned around to fight him, punch him, and scratch him again, angry as hell, before he let go of her hair and backhanded her so violently across the face that she flew backwards, hitting the ground hard and skidding through the dirt until she came to a stop against a tree, utterly stunned. Lying there in the dirt, one side of her face numb, she wondered if she was still alive.

Zuko stood there a distance away, panting and shocked at his own violence. He could have stopped her without hitting her so, so _uncontrollably_. And, inevitable as always, images flashed through his mind, covering the stunned face of Katara gazing up at him from the ground.

_Father was angry again, and Zuko wasn't sure what he'd done this time. But all he knew was that the room was so hot, so hot and father wouldn't stop screaming, not even when mother begged him to stop, that Zuko was only a child, only a child he couldn't be perfect, Ozai, our son can't be perfect_.

_But father was in one of his rages and nothing would stop him, not when Zuko cried and flinched for the blow he knew was coming, not even when his mother stepped in front of him and took the hit for him. His father slapped her across the face so hard that she hit the wall behind her and slid down, a bit of blood trickling from her cut lip. _

_"Don't get in the way next time!" Ozai stormed. "Don't get in the way next time and I won't have to hurt anybody!"__He left and the room turned blessedly cool, cool enough so that Zuko got up the courage to crawl over to his mother, mother are you okay? Are you okay do you want water, mother? Maybe a doctor? But all she would murmur was you're fine Zuko, you're fine it's not your fault. _

_None of this is your fault._

But it was his fault this time, Zuko realized, looking down at Katara and noticing the small trickle of blood sliding down the corner of her mouth. It was all his fault.

Katara's whole body was in shock right now, but soon enough she'd start to feel the pain. Katara could feel all her senses returning. The pounding ache on her cheek, the bones she knew for certain were heavily bruised, and she could finally taste the salty tang of blood in her mouth, dripping from where she'd bit her own lip during the hit. Her entire body _hurt_, especially her back where it had smashed against the tree and if she got out of this one alive, she'd fall to her knees and thank all the powers above for taking care of her.

She finally focused on Zuko, still standing and breathing heavily above her. Aside from the pain she felt physically, she felt it on the inside too. The fear, the shock that he would actually do this, and the utter humiliation of lying in defeat at Zuko's feet. For sure she'd lost this one. Lost it as certainly as Zuko had lost his mind. That crazy bastard.

Katara tried really hard not to cry, she really did. But the tears slipped unbidden from her eyes, dripping onto the dark dirt beneath her. She didn't want to move from this position, never wanted to move for fear of waking up all the dormant pains in her body. And Zuko. He'd destroyed every last bit of forgiveness she could have given him. She might have let him have a chance at making up his betrayal to her, but not now. Not ever.

They must have stayed there for years it seemed. Him, standing, horrified at his own actions and the memories that swarmed his mind. Her, lying still on the ground, stunned at what had happened and despairing at ever getting out of this situation. They were both caught for life, and they knew it.

Zuko made the first move. He walked slowly over to the girl lying on the ground, trying not to spook her. He could feel her hateful glare pinned to his face when he turned her over.

A soft jingle of metal harness made him turn around. The horse he'd jumped off earlier had come back, following his master's scent. Zuko left Katara on the ground for a moment to retrieve a dark blue blanket in one of the saddlebags. Coming back, he gently lifted Katara's upper body from the ground and slipped the blanket underneath her, then under her legs, wrapping her up until only her face showed from the blanket. The entire time, he could feel her hatred (and a bit of fear?) emanating from the glare on her face. It was shadowed a bit by the edge of the blanket that made a dark hood over her head.

Zuko lifted her up ever so gently and placed her on the back of the horse before mounting up behind her as well. He held her delicately in front of him, mindful of her injuries, and urged the horse into a walk, back to the castle.

Katara felt the tears continue to slip down her cheeks. She wouldn't be fooled by his gentle act this time. It was Zuko's thing, to hurt her and then pretend that he was sorry for it by being nice. It had happened before, and she wasn't going to fall for it again.

One of these days, he was going to break her and then he would have no one to apologize to.

They were both utterly silent on the way back to the castle. Before they were halfway there, the soldiers materialized out from their places in the forest and surrounded their Lord, an escort to take them back. Katara glared disdainfully at all of them from the shadows of her hood. They would never understand the situation. They'd probably already made up their own incorrect assumptions. Well, why should she care?

The soldiers drew in formation behind their Fire Lord, careful not to speak anything of their questions and thoughts. His Majesty had obviously caught the woman again. But why was she bundled in a blanket, hid from others' eyes? Why was she so limp and unmoving. Was she… _dead_?

But it wasn't their place to question their superior. So they kept quiet.

As they arrived at back at the castle, Zuko drew up next to the cold stone wall. He motioned for his soldiers to go on ahead. They were dismissed for the night. He would dismount here, away from the prying eyes and gossiping mouths of all who worked in the horse stables. Katara didn't need anymore attention than she'd already brought upon herself.

He lifted one arm to set the reins aside, and before he knew it or could react, Katara slipped down to the ground, the blanket falling aside. Rising faster than her injuries should have permitted, she set off in a limping run towards… where? Zuko sat on the saddle, completely surprised. What was she doing in her condition? Where did she think she was going to run to?

She wouldn't get far, not with her injuries. Zuko stayed calm, knowing he had the situation under control. Before he went after her though, he picked up a corner of the blanket she'd left behind and taking a small vial from his saddlebag, dumped a bit of the clear liquid onto the cloth, taking care not to inhale any of the fumes. That done, he began to follow her, slowly and leisurely. There was no danger.

Katara limped along, wanting to scream every time she jarred a bone or touched a bruise. But she kept it all inside. Zuko was no doubt extremely confused. She knew it was futile, but if she could just find the dungeons before he took her back to the room, she could just explain everything to Sokka and Aang. How she was so incredibly sorry, how she'd tried her hardest to rescue them and escape, and how she'd failed so badly. All she needed was to talk to them, just for a little while. All she had to do was find out where they were. That was all.

But she had not gone very far before that dreaded grasp came upon her arm again, pulling her back to his chest. "Where are you going?" He asked quietly, gently. She wouldn't be fooled again. Katara shook her head blindly, struggling to get away. "You'll hurt yourself again if you go anywhere." Hurt _myself_ again? Katara thought. I didn't want to hurt myself. You did that. But all she did was grasp with weakening hands at him, trying to get away. But it was all hopeless.

Zuko brought the wetted corner of the blanket up, covering her mouth and nose. She couldn't help but inhale, even though she knew there was something wrong with the noxious-smelling fabric. And there was, because she soon felt edges of black creep into her vision, paralyzing her limbs. She fell against Zuko, and he caught her.

He murmured something in her ear. "I'm so sorry mother. It was my fault this time."

_What?_ Her confused and dimmed mind tried to claw back to the conscious surface. The darkness was quickly swallowing her up. _What are you talking about?_

* * *

**A/N: **We were studying the rise of Russian Communism in class this week, and a lot of stuff about Stalin. And my teacher said "Those who have power will most likely abuse it." Sort of applies to Zuko now, yes?

I have no idea what kind of religion, if any, exists in their world, so I'm basically making it up as I go along. Hopefully, no one gets offended. Would someone mind telling me what happened in the latest episode? I heard it had something to do with Zuko's history and banishment! This could really screw my fic over. I'd really appreciate it if someone could give me a quick summary. Thanks!

**And the long awaited…Q & A time! I find this easier to do than replying to individual reviews. If you have any questions, or something I skipped over, feel free to ask in your review! Thanks again.  
**

**The time difference. How much time passed between Chapter 11 and Chapter 12?**  
I'm sorry I couldn't clear this up before. I'm putting in two weeks or three, while they sailed to the Fire Nation. Nothing was going to happen in those two weeks and so I decided to skip over them. I'll go back and try to make this clearer next time. To sum it up, enough time passed so that Katara and Zuko began to trust each other. That's why they were so happy and touchy at the beginning of Chapter 12.

**How did Zuko become Fire Lord so quick?**  
I'm positive I mentioned this in the last chapter. Ozai is dead. Which means, legitimately and by blood, Zuko is next in line for the Fire Lord throne. To reiterate, Ozai is D-E-A-D, dead. Which makes Zuko Fire Lord now. Kapeesh?

**How old is Zuko again? Is he legal age for drinking alcohol?**  
As I mentioned in the third or fourth chapter, I've changed the ages of Z and K from their original ages in the series (which are 16 and 14, respectively). That's why you read the author's notes! These things ARE important!. I want them older and more mature for this fic. I'm putting Zuko at 18/19, and Katara at 16/17. Aang I'm going to keep at 12. Sokka's a bit older than Katara, so he's probably around Zuko's age. It's not important how old he is. As for legal age, I'm not sure what kind of laws they have in that world. Do they even _have_ alcohol? That's a question for you to ponder in your free time. Haha.

**Can I draw fan art for your story?**  
Of course! Just give me credit, and I'm totally fine with it. I'd love to see it as well, and I'll advertise for you if you want me to!

**How many chapters left in this story before you abandon us!**  
This is Chapter 13… I'm thinking it'll end somewhere around 16 or more. And don't worry I won't abandon you, I've got other ideas floating around in my mind, several of which I want to get down on my computer really soon.

**So, am confuzzled. Did they have sex?**  
This chapter probably already answered your question.

**Will you write a lemon for this story?**  
No. Sorry, but if you want detailed sex scenes, there are several other Z/K fics out there that do that. I've got nothing against lemons (in fact, I'm in awe of authors who can write lemons because this immature and shy authoress can't) but it's just really, really hard for me to write one. You can keep asking, but it just won't happen.

**This story is fucked up.**  
The world is fucked up.


	14. Chapter 14: The Usual Rules

**Chapter 14: The Usual Rules**

Katara woke groggily several times during the night. Her mind was still hazed over by the drug, but she knew she was in bed again, and she knew Zuko was next to her because she could feel his warm heat and steady breathing. The second time she woke, her mind was a bit clearer, but not back to full consciousness yet. This time, Zuko was up and talking to someone at the door. Her ears seemed numbed over and she couldn't hear a thing they said, and fell back into blessed sleep before Zuko came back into bed. She knew he did, because the third time she woke up, her hand was held gently in his. Katara turned over, wincing at the pain, to look him in the face. How peaceful and innocent he seemed, sleeping like this. Except his scar. There was a story behind it, she knew, but he hadn't told her. Her free hand slowly, shakily came up to touch his face, tracing the outline of the ugly burn around his eye. Did it hurt him still? Did he have nightmares about it? Could he feel it when she touched him?

The room was dark, except for the thin light of the moon shining through the windows. Everything seemed right with the world during the night. There was no war, no Avatar, no violence. As obtuse as it was, somewhere inside of her, Katara was glad Zuko had stayed tonight. How lonely she'd been before, sleeping by herself. She was so pathetic, desperate for companionship that she would be grateful for the mere presence of Zuko next to her in bed. He'd hit her! What did she have to be grateful for?

Regaining her senses, Katara's hand stilled, then drew away from him. She turned so her back was to Zuko again. Nothing. She was grateful for nothing. She hated him. That's what she was grateful for. It was a good thing she hated him. It was infinitely better than loving him.

* * *

The next morning, Katara woke up a bit more refreshed. Zuko was gone. Bright sunlight shone through the windows. She noticed someone had patched over the hole she'd made with a piece of wood. Crude, but not really effective. She could just break another one and escape again. Amused that Zuko would be so stupid, Katara slowly sat up in bed, hissing as the bruises on her back flamed to life, and the cold metal on her wrists clanked together-

_What the fuck?_ Katara thought, horrified. _What the fuck are these things?_

Thin, flat gold bands encircled each of her wrists, with long, long chains of gold metal reaching from each band until they fastened to one of the bedposts at the head of the bed. Katara shook one wrist experimentally, then got shakily out of bed and walked as far as she could across the room until the chains pulled taut. She could go anywhere inside the room that the length of the chains allowed. She couldn't reach the doors or any of the windows.

She finally understood. This was why no one had bothered to fix the problem of the breakable windows. This was why Zuko wasn't worried about leaving her alone. She couldn't go anywhere. Not while she was tied up to the bed like a dog.

Katara let out a pure scream of frustration that rang in her ears and could be hear throughout the castle.

* * *

Zuko graciously sipped his tea, sitting across from Iroh. They could hear her scream all the way from the dining room.

"I suspect she's woken up."

"Most likely."

"Think she'll try to kill you?"

"Most likely."

They each ate their breakfast silently, thinking their own thoughts.

Zuko felt a strange satisfaction at knowing the Katara had discovered her predicament. That would teach her. She wouldn't be going anywhere for awhile. Finally, everything was back under his control.

Iroh wondered what Katara's true state of being was. Obviously she and Zuko had had a falling out of some sort. Zuko obviously wasn't going to go into any sort of detail. He made it a point to visit her sometime today, to have a little talk. Hopefully she wouldn't be as violently disposed towards him as she had been towards Zuko when she'd hurled that vase at his nephew. And hopefully, she would still be alright. By the sound of that scream, her health couldn't be in too bad of a condition.

* * *

_How am I supposed to go to the bathroom?_ Katara raged, jerking against the chain. It only served to bruise her wrist even more. _What was going through that idiot's head when he did this?_

A timid knock on the door shook her out of her reverie. It was Kaz. Oh no. Katara sat in silence on the bed for the servant to come in. What would he think now? He already knew her attempt at escape had failed. Otherwise, why would he be bringing her food?

Kaz's mouth dropped open when he saw her, and if years of training and fear of punishment hadn't been instilled into him, the boy would have dropped the tray of food as well. Katara held her head high. What had she to be ashamed of? But then again, she hadn't seen her own self this morning, with no mirror around. Maybe she looked worse than she thought. A night of running around in the forest, crouching in the dirt, and being hit by Zuko. She couldn't possibly still look civilized.

Kaz quickly dropped his gaze to the floor, and hurried over to the table, setting the tray on it. He looked like he was about to cry. Just before he left, he turned around quickly and glancing at her face, whispered "I'm so sorry."

Katara sighed, all her dignity and pride whooshing out in one breath. She slumped on the bed. "It's not your fault, Kaz. None of this is your fault."

The servant boy left, and Katara sat on the bed for a moment, contemplating his reaction. Hopefully it wouldn't burden his conscience too badly. She wondered what she really did look like to provoke such a response from him. Deciding she'd find out, she slid off the bed and proceeded to rummage through all the dressers and drawers within her reach. Finally she came upon a small hand mirror, and took a deep breath before opening her eyes and looking at her reflection.

Wow. That was one big-assed bruise on her cheek. The side where Zuko had slapped her. She turned her face to check the rest of it. Purple-green-yellow. Not exactly the greatest color scheme. Her hair was a mess too, and several dirt smudges covered her face. But it'd all fade away soon enough.

Katara didn't feel hungry, but looking over at the food, decided that she might as well build up her strength anyways. She limped over to the table, chains clattering behind her on the cold floor. The aches and pains really weren't as bad as yesterday night. The drug had completely knocked her out, and that rest must have helped. Maybe the drug had some healing properties as well?

She uncovered the first bowl. Soup. Wrinkling her nose, she decided it smelled… suspicious. Taking a closer sniff, she slapped her hand over her nose and mouth, resisting the urge to throw up. There was definitely something wrong with the soup. Had it gone bad? She turned her attention to the small plate of salad. That was fine, but when she finally smelled the cooked fish on the remaining plate, a sudden urge to throw up rose inside her stomach again. _Shit!_ She waved a hand in front of her nose. Was that fish rotten? Who would serve rotten food to the Fire Lord's important prisoner? Were they trying to _poison_ her? She decided to chance it once more, and sniffed it again to make sure. _Oh shit!_ And before she knew it, she'd thrown up her entire breakfast into the soup bowl.

_Shit! Damn it!_ Katara felt utterly horrible. Her stomach heaved again, but nothing came out this time. She'd only eaten the salad, after all. Her aim hadn't been that great, and a bit of her vomit dripped from the table onto the marble floor. She bent down painstakingly to clean it up, using a napkin from the tray to wipe up everything. Katara noticed the pitcher of water on the table, and rinsed her mouth out and watched her face. Good, clean water.

She stared at her vomit. It had blended into the soup, and the smell of stomach acid covered the bad food smell. Someone had definitely poisoned the food. But why? And wouldn't Kaz have noticed anything? He wouldn't have served her spoiled fish. He was eternally grateful for her money, and practically worshipped her! Kaz served her food every day, and he would definitely have noticed something-

_Oh fuck_. There was nothing wrong with the food, Katara realized. Nothing wrong with the food at all. She was the problem.

Katara wanted to cry. She wanted to break down and sob. She wanted to crawl back into bed and weep her sorry little eyes out until she couldn't bleed any more tears. She was miles from home, and she had no one to help her with her… dilemma. Her period hadn't come, and all of a sudden she was smelling food and throwing up. Plus she was chained to a bed by the very father of the child, and she was all _alone_. The weight of it all felt like it was going to crush her.

Beginning to sniffle, she stumbled back to bed, burrowing into her pillow and pulling the covers tight up to her chin. Pushing every single thought of _baby, morning sickness, period, _and _Zuko_ from her head, she willed herself to go back to sleep.

After all, her tired body was supporting two now.

* * *

Zuko opened the door to his room _extremely_ cautiously, hoping that nothing else would come zooming toward his head. But all was silent, and the objects stayed in their places this afternoon. Slipping into the room and closing the door tightly behind him, he caught side of the mound on the bed. Katara was _still_ asleep? What was it, one in the afternoon already?

Katara heard him come in, but didn't move from her position. Maybe if she pretended to be asleep, he'd go away.

He caught sight of the food on the table, wondering why she hadn't eaten. Upon closer inspection, he found out that she had eaten, but only of the salad. How strange. Picking up a fork, he speared a bit of the fish for himself. Mmm. The palace cook still had her old touch. If Katara wasn't going to finish it, Zuko wasn't going to let it go to waste. Zuko caught sight of the still-full soup bowl. What a strange color. Maybe the cook was trying out something new. It smelled foreign too. New recipe?

Katara opened her eyes to slits. Well, Zuko wasn't going away, but maybe something better would happen. He was picking up the spoon, dipping it full of soup and-

Zuko spat out the liquid, throwing his spoon to the floor where it clattered on the cold marble. "_Shit!_" He cursed, forgetting that Katara was still sleeping in the bed. What the hell had that been? What the _fuck_ had the cook been thinking? "_Damn it!" _He hissed, wiping at the stains on his clothes from when he'd spit out the soup messily.

"Hah. Serves you right." A rustle on the bed made him stop mid-swipe and turn to look at Katara, who was sitting up, watching him. Ouch. That bruise looked like it hurt. But her face looked strangely triumphant and satisfied.

_What? How did she know the soup was-_

It hit him. "What did you _do _to it?" He gaped at her, amazed that she even had the audacity to do such a thing. She'd tricked him! The full horror of it dawned on him. "You- you didn't _pee_ in it, did you?"

She laughed, a malicious and distinctly… evil laugh. "No."

He relaxed a bit.

"But I did throw up in it."

Fuck. That little brat. Zuko looked utterly disgusted. And she'd just lain there in bed, and didn't see fit to warn him? Now Zuko knew she'd been awake the entire time. "If this is your idea of revenge-"

"I'm not looking for revenge." She cut him off, standing up from the rumpled sheets. Her eyes looked a little red. "I just hate you."

He decided to ignore that last comment. Zuko told himself it didn't matter. It didn't matter whether she liked him or not. Things like _hating _and _loving _were irrelevant, especially when he was trying to take over the world. But somehow, the walls he'd built around his emotions wasn't as strong as he'd thought they were. The words squeezed painfully through a crack in his barrier and hit him stingingly in the center of his heart.

He ignored it, like always. "Why'd you throw up?" She wouldn't have voluntarily done that, would she? Not just to play a stupid little trick on him, she wouldn't.

A shadow passed over her face for the briefest second before her emotionless mask came back again. "Something was wrong with the fish. I think it's rotten. That's why I vomited. Would you rather me have done it all over the floor?"

"The fish was fine!" He said, still gaping at her.

"No it wasn't. Maybe you're used to eating spoiled food, but I prefer higher quality meals."

He scowled. Now she was just back to petty insults. Well, he could play this game too. "You could have done it like a _civilized_ person in a bathroom, not a soup bowl."

She held up her wrists mockingly. "The bathroom was a bit, how do I say it, _out of reach_?"

Zuko glowered at her. Damn it. How could he have been so stupid as to forget the chains? He'd put them on himself. She'd won this round, but he'd won everything else. After all, who was the one chained up to the bed?

"Oh. Sorry. I'd forgotten. Freedom sort of gets to one's head after awhile." He smiled grimly back.

She glared at him. Katara hated him with every inch of her self at this moment. He didn't have to rub it in her face. He'd already won, couldn't he just be satisfied with that? In some deep, dark part of her, a little bit of her consciousness had been hoping that he'd limp back into the room today, sincerely sorry for his actions from the previous night. That he'd hug her, kiss her, apologizing to her for the hurts he'd caused. Shower her with meaningless words and even more meaningless gifts. And she'd known, in some even more secret part of herself, that she would have forgiven him after a while, being the weak-minded and easily manipulated girl she was.

Unable to say anything further, Katara turned her back on him and stared out the windows. Hard to believe that she'd been racing over that very grass and running through that very forest last night. She could barely remember the whisper of soft greenery under her feet, the rough bark of the trees, and the cold, free air on her face. She should've enjoyed what brief freedom she'd had last night. But she'd been in a right panicked state, and hadn't really been focusing on the virtues of natures around her. And now she was back in here.

Katara heard the door snick shut behind her. She turned around slightly. Good. He'd left. Now she could resume crying in peace. Except she didn't break down again. All that mucus and salty water could really get to you after awhile. To be truthful, she just wasn't interested in pouring out her grief anymore. Crying wasn't going to get her anywhere.

But what would? There was nothing she could now about it. No action she could take. In fact, the time for action was over. What she was dealing with now were the consequences.

The door creaked open, and Katara's head whipped around to stare at it. What was Zuko doing back so soon? Had he figured something out? Had she been too obvious with the vomiting thing? Had he put two and two together-

But no. Iroh's grinning face greeted her.

She slowly relaxed, sinking back into her armchair. "Hello."

"Hello yourself." Iroh smiled cheerfully, and walked into the room to sit down on one of the sofas. "I met Zuko in the hallway and decided I'd stop by."

"I'm glad you did." Katara said, shifting slightly in her chair. The constant chains made a _clanking_ noise when she did. Iroh settled onto the seat across from her, raising one eyebrow at the noise.

"I knew about the chains, but _gold_?" He gave her a sly look. "Kin_ky_."

She gave him a deadpan look.

"Alright, alright! I didn't mean it."

She smiled at him. It had been funny.

"… But I didn't know my nephew had it in him."

Katara was prepared to glare at the perverted uncle again but she couldn't keep the laughter from coming out. She hadn't laughed in a long, long time, and it felt so good. They laughed together, even though they both knew that it was more than the weak joke deserved. Finally, Katara stopped, shaking her head side to side at Iroh's twisted perversity.

And the old man stopped short, eyes fixated on her face, color quickly draining out of his own.

Katara, momentarily confused, wondered why Iroh had stopped. Had he seen something? Before she could turn around to see what was behind her, she quickly realized what it was. Oh. He'd finally noticed it.

"Would it help to say that I fell and broke my fall with my cheek?" She asked carefully.

Iroh sat down slowly on the couch, his earlier grinning visage gone. He looked his age now. Tired and weary. "No. Not really."

She didn't say anything. What was there to say?

"I thought something was different with your face at first, but maybe it was just a trick of the light." His sad eyes gently examined her cheekbone. "I wish it was."

"It's not. It's real as every other part of my body." _As real as it is painful. _She finished silently. No need to worry Iroh. He had enough on his mind already.

* * *

Zuko ignored all the guards that saluted him respectfully as he quickly walked towards the lower innards of the castle, where the dungeons were built. Further in, the stone steps became slightly slippery with damp, and he opened up a globe of fire in his left palm to help light his way. Soon enough, he entered the main jail room that had several branches of cells leading off of it. More guards sat here, making sure nobody who wasn't supposed to leave slipped past the iron doors.

Zuko ignored these soldiers too, who scrambled up to salute to him. His business was elsewhere. Taking the first left passageway, he walked all the way to the end of the empty aisle until he stopped in front of the last two metal-barred cells.

The flame in his hands threw queer shadows everywhere. One of the occupants looked up at him with wide, guarded eyes. The other inmate didn't move from his curled up position in the back of his cell. His harsh breathing filled the dark emptiness of the corridor. It didn't sound natural.

Aang and Zuko locked gazes for a full minute, before the younger boy finally broke away. The Avatar looked over his shoulder at his friend in the next cell. He called out in a low voice, "Sokka. _Sokka_."

The older boy woke with a start, his limbs flailing, as if trying to find out where he was. "Huh?" Belatedly, he realized his predicament. "Oh." Then he noticed Zuko. "It's _you_."

Zuko examined him for a short moment. The other boy didn't look too good. He was pale, and bright drops of sweat stood out on his clammy skin. That didn't matter. Katara would be happy to see her brother whether he was good looking or not.

Motioning for two guards to come over, he unlocked the door of Sokka's cell with the key that he kept with him always, on a thin chain around his neck. "Let's go."

Sokka looked at him with a wary and panicked gaze. "Where? Where are you taking me?"

"You'll find out soon enough." It was cruel to keep the information from him, but Zuko wasn't in a generous mood. He felt like taking his spite out on someone. "Just move it."

When Sokka was a bit too slow in standing up, the two guards went in and grabbed him under the arms. "Hey!" He tried to struggle, but they held on steadfastedly. Sokka was weakening. Almost three days in a cell, with no light, no fresh air, and meager food wasn't the recipe for a healthy young man.

"Hey!" Protest came from the Avatar's cell. "Where are you taking him? Take me too!"

Zuko ignored all the complaints from behind him and lead the way back out of the dungeons and up into the main castle. They were all whiners, even the Avatar. Well, this Fire Lord could just let that stupid kid stew in the darkness. He was the one calling all the shots now, not some whimpy Air Bender.

The guards dragged the shouting Sokka all the way up the stairs and through the grand hallways of the palace until they finally reached the room where Katara was staying.

Katara sighed, releasing the chains back to puddle in her lap. She'd been picking at them for the last half hour since Iroh had left, but to no avail. A thump and raised voices on the other side of the doors drew her attention. Now what?

The double doors burst open and wonder of wonders, Sokka fell to the floor in a heap, shouting at someone behind him. "You ugly _asshole_, you think that _hurt_?"

Katara stood up, chains tinkling onto the floor, every thought blown from her mind.

Sokka looked up at her. He wasn't sure who he was he here to see, and had an angry retort ready on his lips. Then he recognized his sister.

It seemed an eternity as they stared at each other.

Sokka took in every detail of his little sister. He'd been ready to scream at her, to yell at her, to scold her as a big brother should when his little sister does something bad. But he was stopped by the purple bruise across her cheek, the chains looped around her wrist, and her whole battered form.

And he realized that the assumptions he'd been building so confidently in his head for the past two days were utterly and irrevocably _wrong._

He stood up shakily, the blood drained from his face. "Katara-"

She threw herself at him, almost knocking him over with the sheer force of her hug. He gazed down in shock at the gold metal leading away from her body, trailing on the floor, before wrapping his arms around his beloved sister and hugging her back as hard as he could. "I'm so sorry."

Before burying her tears in her brother's shoulder, Katara caught sight of Zuko's emotionless face watching them from outside, before the doors closed and he was gone.

_Why did he do this? How did he know I needed to see Sokka? Why did he let my brother out? Why? Why?_ But Katara had never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth. She just reveled in the fact that her brother understood and had forgiven her, and was standing right here, holding her in his arms. Oh, it felt so good to be with family again. Even if it was just the two of them left. Not counting Gran-Gran, of course. But she was thousands of miles away, and right now, the two siblings were all that mattered to each other.

When they finally pulled away, both of them were crying. They each swiped away the tears, grinning in foolish embarrassment and happiness. They collapsed onto the sofa, and Sokka looked around the room in amazement. He turned to grin a bit sheepishly at her. "Nice place you've got here."

And she laughed, tears still streaming from her eyes. "Oh yes. I'm quite the privileged young woman, aren't I? Living the good life." Her previously weak joke got weaker as her voice ended in scorn directed at herself. It was clear what her opinion of her surroundings was.

Sokka reached up with one gentle hand to brush ever so slightly at the bruise on her face. She flinched away before she could stop herself, even though she knew Sokka would never willingly hurt her, not like Zuko. "But not good enough, eh?" His voice was sad and sympathetic, but Katara could see the burning anger in her brother's eyes. He drew back abruptly. "_He_ did this to you, didn't he?"

"Would it help to say I just had a little accident?" She laughed weakly, trying to keep the mood light with the same lame joke she'd used earlier with Iroh. Like last time, it didn't work.

Sokka stood up from the sofa and began pacing angrily around. Katara watched him worriedly. He didn't look well. He was much too pale, and he was trembling from something other than his anger. "I'll bash his head in. You know, I was thinking that Zuko might have a little bit of human emotion in him, for letting me come up here again and talk to you. But I'm beginning to think different again." His clenched fists were shaking at his sides. "I want to hurt him so badly, Katara." Sokka's intent and strangely pleading eyes turned to her. "I want to _kill_ him for doing this to you."

Katara shook her head. She was unbelievably grateful that her brother had forgiven her and that he still loved her, loved her enough to want to defend her against people who would harm her. But he still didn't understand the full gravity of the situation.

"I'm not sure you understand, Sokka."

"What more _is_ there to understand? He's beating you! That's all I need to know-"

She shook her head again, pleading with Sokka to listen to her. "You don't understand, Sokka. Zuko's not like the bullies back in the water tribe who annoyed us when we were five. You can't just give him a black eye and expect him to leave me alone forever. You can't tell on him, you can't get an adult to chastise him and give him a time out."

Sokka whipped around to stare at her. "I know that! But there's gotta be something else we can do to stop him. There's always something."

Katara looked up at her older brother, her older brother who had become so overprotective of her after their father had left. He'd always been so determined to keep anything bad from harming her. The minute she cried, he knew and would run off to punish whoever had stolen her doll, uncaring of the injuries he would receive for his actions. Even when she'd started growing up and getting notions of independence. _I can take care of myself now, Sokka!_ And she'd run off by herself. Still, he shadowed her, following her, always there to carry her back to Gran-Gran when she inevitably tripped over a root and twisted her ankle. He'd always been there. Always been there to save her and rescue her from the scary monsters.

And now he'd finally met a monster he couldn't protect her from.

"There isn't anything this time, Sokka." They both knew it, but it was more painful coming from her mouth, the words echoing in the silence of the room. "Zuko is- He can't be stopped. He has power, Sokka, power that matters now. He's Fire Lord, and there is no one in the world who can stop him from doing what he wants to do."

"Aang can." Sokka said doggedly. "Aang's the Avatar. It's his destiny to stop power-hungry bastards like Zuko." He expected his sister to nod eagerly, to agree that they still had hope, to hop up and down in excitement like she used to when she'd been younger and still innocent.

But all she did was laugh that choking, hopeless laugh. "Oh, yes, I've forgotten about Aang. Twelve-year-old Aang, destined to save the world. He'll save us all. He'll save us all from the ambitions of Fire Lord Zuko." Her sarcasm didn't help anything, Sokka thought.

But Katara kept plowing on, releasing all her fears and all the things she'd been thinking about in the hopeless dark depths of her mind since she'd been captured. She'd had a lot of time to think. "Sokka, Aang's locked up in a cold dungeon in the bottom of the Fire castle, in a cell that only Zuko has the key to." Her voice rose to a fevered pitch. "Aang hasn't even hit puberty! All he knows is the Air Bending taught to him by some old monk. He has no control, no experience, no will to _kill_."

She gazed up at her brother, desperate for him to understand what she was saying. _Don't look at me like that, Sokka, because what I'm saying is true_.

"Don't you understand, Sokka? That's what it all comes down to. Whichever one can kill the other first."

Sokka stared at her, wanting her to stop. _Shut up, Katara, it's not true shut up shut up shut up_…

"Can you imagine Aang killing anyone? Even for the sake of the world? That boy couldn't hurt a fly, much less a human being." Katara gazed at him and lowered her voice, regaining her control. She spoke calmly now.

"Don't you see? Zuko has the ability to kill people. He can do it. I've _seen_ him to it. I've felt the blood of his victims splatter across my face. He killed Jet, did you know? He stabbed him in the back. He cut _you_ without any hesitation, didn't he?"

A shivery, awful feeling ran up his injured arm and continued throughout his body. Sokka couldn't shake it off. He hadn't gotten any care for his arm since he and Aang had captured. It had long ago turned queer colors and was leaking a strange-colored pus. Infection had set in, and it was spreading.

Katara seemed almost a peace now. "Zuko is going to win.He is going to win by the mere fact that Aang can't kill. And Zuko can."

After his sister delivered this final ultimatum, Sokka couldn't hold off the encroaching darkness any longer. His eyes rolled up in his feverish head, and he fell to the ground, knocking over the table and shattering a mug. Sokka's limbs were all askew and his eyes closed, deathly pale, as if he were already dead.

Katara let out a piercing scream. "SOMEBODY _HELP ME!_"

* * *

Zuko had been pacing the floor in the hallway outside his room. He couldn't erase the image of Katara flinging herself into her brother's arms, wholeheartedly and trustingly. The slight wiggle of jealousy in his chest annoyed him. Why would he be jealous of Katara's _brother_? It was impossible.

_Because she'll never embrace you like that. Because she'll never love you with the same amount of love she has for him. Because she'll never trust you like she trusts him. And because you can't stand to see her in another man's arms, even if he is her own brother._

It was all nonsense.

The great carved wooden doors muffled the sounds of conversation from within. Not that he wanted to eavesdrop in the first place. He just liked to keep an eye (or ear) on things that went on in his room. The lower, more aggressively toned voice of Sokka came floated out, while at the same time, the higher, calmer voice of Katara reached his ears. But after awhile, her voice seemed to get more agitated, and it seemed she was doing most of the speaking.

He could barely hold his agitation in. What were they talking about? What was Katara telling her brother?

The guards didn't even dare exchange looks. They noticed their Lord's nervousness, but wouldn't risk his wrath by commenting on it.

When Zuko heard her scream, he was unlocking the doors and in the room before she'd finished yelling for help.

He stopped short. He'd expected many things, but not the scene that now greeted his eyes. Sokka was lying on the ground in the midst of a broken table, with Katara kneeling by him, a hand placed on his pale forehead. She turned calmly to look up at him.

"Something's wrong with Sokka." Her voice was low and neutral.

Zuko had expected a weeping, hysterical Katara who believed the worst the moment her brother collapsed on the floor. But she was in control, and looked like she could take anything he threw her way now.

_And your brother is supposed to be my problem?_ Zuko thought internally. "What is it?"

"I don't know. I think it's a high fever of some sort." Katara said, watching Zuko out of a corner of her eye warily. She wasn't sure what the Fire Lord's reaction would be. "Maybe infection came in through his arm. He hasn't had medicine for it or new bandages." The aforementioned bandages were stained yellow and grimy. Gingerly, she peeled one book and averted her eyes at the sight. It was utterly disgusting, oozing all sorts of odd-colored liquids. The flesh around it was beginning to discolor as well. Definitely infection.

Zuko remembered now. He was the one who had sliced open Katara's brother's arm.

"He needs help, Zuko."

Zuko debated refusing to get help for her brother, but only for the briefest moment. He decided not to go into detailed reasoning about the situation. Sokka was technically a worthless prisoner- he was not the Avatar, and Zuko already had another prisoner, Katara, to use as a threat in order to get the Avatar to comply with his wishes. Sokka was nothing.

But he was something to Katara. And because he meant something to Katara, Zuko would help him. But only for her. Not because Zuko was a generous, benevolent, kind hearted Samaritan who loved helping all sorts of injured people regain their health. He would help Sokka only because of Katara. Only because of her.

Turning around, Zuko began to issue quick orders to the few curious servants who had gathered at the door. One was dispatched to find the Royal Physicians, and another was dispatched to fetch whatever supplies were requested by the physicians. The two guards helped lift the unconscious Sokka into a small room down the hall. Katara followed close behind, a worried frown on her face, but her head still held high. She wasn't one to lose her head in an indelicate situation.

Zuko followed, if only a bit reluctantly. What use was he in this situation? He didn't really care about the patient, and he wasn't going to be much help in the medical department. He'd be fooling himself if he thought Katara needed support in a time like this. She was handling everything well already.

But still, he followed. He knew that the physicians who regularly only served his family would look to him for orders. How much effort would they need to spend on this stranger, one who wasn't of royal blood and didn't necessarily deserve the best treatment? To be truthful, prisoners like Sokka usually weren't afforded the best of medical care. The idea was that they were eventually going to die anyways, so why waste the time with health?

But Sokka was no longer a normal prisoner, but only because Katara wasn't just a normal prisoner to Zuko. And… and to make her happy, Zuko would do what he could for her brother.

_I'm getting way too soft_, he thought. _I should just leave him to die_.

* * *

Katara couldn't stop her hands shaking as she knelt at the head of the small cot Sokka was placed on. The two physicians rustled back and forth from the low table where the servants had set the supplies. How long had Sokka known something was wrong, and not told anyone? A month? Maybe more. He should have alerted her to his sickness the minute he'd stepped in the door. And now it might be too late. Too late.

The doctors did not acknowledge her presence, something she wasn't extremely bothered by. They just focused on slicing open the disgusting bandages with a sharp knife. These two men knew what they were doing- they had experience. She could trust them with her brother's life.

She watched with as much dignity as she could muster. The bandages were pulled back and thrown away. An awful stench rose from her brother's injury, and the two physicians looked at each other worriedly. A bad sign?

_How could it not be a bad sign_? She thought. _Healthy, healing wounds don't smell or look like that_. One of the doctors began to clean up the opening on Sokka's arm with a small cloth dipped in some sharp-smelling liquid. Disinfectant? Medicine? As long as it would help her brother, Katara wasn't overly concerned.

Sokka gave a small twitch and cry in his unconsciousness when the doctor touched his arm. But he didn't wake up from his coma. Katara smoothed his forehead with her hand. _Oh please be alright please be alright don't die don't die on me Sokka please be alright._

Katara knelt by that bed, trying to keep out of the way of the physicians while letting her unconscious brother know she was still there. By the looks the doctors were exchanging, she might be kneeling for a very, very long time.

* * *

Zuko had long ago given up on pacing. He stood at the large bay window across the hall from the room the doctors, Sokka, and Katara were currently ensconced in. Almost three hours had passed since they'd gone in. What was taking so long? But he knew he wouldn't get the answer just by wondering it. He couldn't very well barge in and demand the doctors for information either. They were in the process of a delicate operation. He didn't want to be the one to inadvertently kill Sokka.

_But you already are_, the voice whispered in his head. _It's your fault he's sick in the first place, you're the one who gave him that horrible wound. You know it. And Katara knows it_.

Standing with his feet apart at a comfortable distance, and his hands clasped behind his back, Zuko stared out the glass-paned window at the setting sun. It streaked brilliant colors of red and gold across the sky. Fire Nation colors. His country's colors. He should be feeling patriotic at this very moment, instead of stupidly guilty.

Try as he might, he couldn't erase that image of pure joy on Katara's face when she'd seen her brother. _She'll never look at you like that_. And the completely unbound and utterly comfortable way she'd thrown herself into Sokka's arms. _She'll never embrace you like that_. The way she'd carried on such a long conversation with Sokka, and the way her voice had been so trusting when she'd talked to him. She probably told her brother everything, and trusted him with her life. _She'll never trust you that way._

Why?

_Because she knows enough that you'll just abuse her trust_.

I won't this time!

_Why should she believe you? You've already done it. She's given you so many chances and you blow it every time_.

I'm not the only one. She practically betrayed me by talking to Jet. She keeps trying to escape.

_You give her no reason to stay with you. If she's terrified of the next time you'll hurt her, then why wouldn't she try to escape? She's looking out for her best interest: her life_.

I never raped her. She agreed to willingly. I asked her. I asked her so many times and she said she was ready. It's not like I wasn't a virgin either.

_She probably regrets it now_. _Especially since she's finally figured out what type of person you are._

I don't regret it. How could _she_ know what type of person I am? Even I don't know.

_Yes you do. You think you're the all-powerful Fire Lord. You think no one can stop you from getting what you want. You think you are invincible._

And what makes her think I'm not?

_The mere fact that you feel like you have to push her around in order to have control_.

I don't push her around!

_Then what's that bruise on her cheek? A lovebite?_

Zuko shook his slightly as if that would clear the voices clamoring for attention in his head. He never knew which part of him to believe. One was his pride, and one was his conscience. They were both equally strong, and one usually got him into trouble while the other badgered him about it until he felt overloaded with guilt. He liked neither.

But it had sobered him, made him more angry with himself. Why did it have to be Katara? What was so special about that no-name girl from a no-name Water Tribe? She wasn't even his _type_. Never mind the fact that he didn't even have a type. What mattered was his queer interest in her.

Now that he was Fire Lord, dozens of noblemen wanted to marry their daughters off to him in order to secure a higher position for themselves in his eyes. Getting married into the Royal Family wasn't a trivial matter. Whoever did become the next Queen would gain much honor and standing for her family. He'd been introduced to hundreds of noble women since he'd come back, ranging from old maids at 38 to mere girl children at 6! All of them blurred together in his mind, and the only woman he could ever keep his attention on was Katara.

She wasn't even that pretty. He'd seen plenty of more beautiful women. She wasn't even that smart. He'd met much more learned and intelligent women. What was it that made her stick in his mind? It was becoming increasingly annoying. Usually he got to make a decision about the things he thought about on a daily basis, but in the case of Katara, the usual rules never seemed to apply.

Zuko thought of Katara in that sickroom with her brother. She was probably worried to death herself, and maybe even crying at the fact that her brother was consumed with disease.

Would she ever care for Zuko that way? Would she ever worry over him like that? Would she ever be bothered by the fact that he might die of sickness?

* * *

Katara's knees ached when the doctors finished tying the new, pure-white bandage onto Sokka's arm. He was still unconscious, feverish, and pale.

One of the doctors, the younger looking one with black hair, tapped her shoulder gently. "Miss? Your brother will most likely survive."

She grasped at his hand, uncaring that it might be against decorum. "Thank you! Thank you so much! You don't know how much this means to me."

He smiled gently at her, patting her hand with one of his own. "In fact, I have my own brother. I know I would be just as distressed if I were put in your position. But it is a good thing you got help for him in time. A few more days, and he might have lost the arm. It was close enough as it was, anyways."

She couldn't stop babbling her thanks.

"My father and I are just glad to be of help, miss. But, mind you, he'll still need proper care and rest for a week more at least."

So he and the other, older doctor were father and son. She'd thought so, they had the same friendly eyes and gentle hands. The younger one was probably an apprentice, learning the craft of healing from his father.

She listened to all their instructions on how to change the bandages and apply the medicines they'd leave on the table for her. One of them would come back to check on Sokka at the end of the week. For now, all the boy needed to do was sleep and regain his strength.

The young doctor handed her one more small jar of something. "This is for you, miss."

Katara took it, slightly confused.

"His Majesty requested us bring a jar of it for you. It's a very cool, refreshing salve that will help reduce the bruising on your face." The young doctor looked at her earnestly. He didn't suspect anything. He probably thought she'd just received the injury from a clumsy fall or something.

Katara looked at the small, earth-colored jar in her hand. Zuko had asked them to bring medicine for her? It was… thoughtful of him.

The doctors had gone back to cleaning up their supplies and checking over Sokka one more time. Katara knelt on the cold floor, still holding the jar in her hand.

She wondered with a pang where Zuko was. He'd employed two of his very best physicians to help her brother, even when he didn't need to. She knew Sokka meant nothing to the Fire Lord. Then why had Zuko agreed to help him.

She stood up shakily from the floor, ignoring the ache in her legs. Setting down the medical supplies and small jars on the table, she eased slowly over to the door of the room. Turning the knob, she slipped outside before closing it behind her.

Across the wide hallway, Zuko stood with his hands clasped behind his back, staring out the large window. It was sunset. Red-gold light spilled from the windows lining the hallway, coloring everything gentle, warm colors.

Katara stared at his strong back, silhouetted in black against the bright light from the windows. He didn't move, didn't shrug, didn't turn around. Did he know she was there? Or was he just choosing to ignore her?

She crossed the hallway softly on bare feet, until she stood right behind him in his shadow. It was impossible he hadn't heard her already.

Zuko tensed a bit. He could feel every breath she took behind him, feel her glance rake across the back of his head, feel her proximity and almost hear the sound of her heart beating. Was she out here to scream at him? To curse him for putting her brother in such danger in the first place?

Or was she out here for something else? Some other desperate, beautiful reason?

Impossible.

His breath hitched in his chest. But maybe not. He felt her small hand come to rest on his right shoulder. Not firmly with anger, but not lightly with a fear of touching him either. It was just… there.

She swallowed. He didn't move when she touched him. He didn't shake her off, but didn't turn around or lean into the feeling either. How hard was this supposed to be? How hard was it going to be?

Katara stepped slowly around his tall frame to stand next to his side, her hand still on his shoulder. He wouldn't look at her.

Zuko almost didn't feel it when she stretched up on her toes to kiss him on his scarred cheek. It was so quick, so feather-light that it almost didn't happen.

"Thank you." Was all she said.

Katara was about to turn to leave when Zuko finally moved from his stance and pulled her back, folding her in an embrace. He barely touched her, barely held her against him, to let her know that at any moment she could choose to leave him standing there, alone.

But she didn't. She pulled him closer, and Zuko would be forever grateful for the moment when she rested her head on his shoulder and let him know with her relaxed pose that she trusted him enough to let him hug her like this.

_You could tell him now_, she thought to herself, held in his warm arms. _You could tell him now about how maybe there is a child growing inside of you right now_. _You could_.

But she didn't. She didn't want to ruin the moment by shocking him with another revelation. What would his reaction be? Would he even _believe_ her? Would he be happy? Angry? She didn't want to risk it all.

_Later. I can always tell him later_.

* * *

From what I've heard happened in the last episode, "The Storm", which explains Zuko's banishment and his scar,

My. Story. Is. Sort. Of. Screwed.

It's not completely screwed. But still kind of screwed. Because I had my own history of Zuko's banishment and scar made up. This is what happens when you write fanfiction for a show that hasn't even got 10 episodes out yet. Oh well. I'll figure it all out. Maybe I can combine the two stories.

And, after reading so many reviewer responses, it's cool how many different type of reviewers there are. There are some of you who are incredibly smart and look ahead and predict about three things that I've already jotted down to include in the next chapter. You pick up every hint and nuance that I write, and understand every bit of irony included. Sometimes I wonder if you can read my mind or hack into my computer.

Then, there are those of you who, at the end of every chapter, are "OMFG HUH? OMG HUH WHAT JUST HAPPENED? HUH? EXPLAIN! HUH?". It's incredibly endearing. I'm hoping you can keep up. I'll try to answer as many questions as I can!

I still love every single one of you though, so keep those reviews coming!

**How many words are in your chapters on average?**  
Chapter 1 was about 2000+ words, and the last chapter, Chapter 13, was 10,000+. That's about a difference of eight thousand words, you know? 13 was definitely the longest. But as for average… majority of the chapters in between are around 7000/8000.

**OMG! I just realized this...your going to make it a sad/sequel ending, aren't you?**  
… My lips are sealed. Or, rather, my word processor is.

**I've got my own question...is Katara pregnant? Seriously, because if you skip your period...that could be one of the causes...Or am I just being ridiculous?**  
I'll answer this question with another reviewer's words:  
**I'm now very worried about Katara and her "time of the month." You don't really have to assume anything, the fact that you brought it up is enough information already.**  
Cough. Exactly. And if last chapter didn't help your suspicions, this chapter most certainly will.

If I missed anyone's questions this time around, please feel free to ask again!


	15. Chapter 15: Departure

**Chapter 15: Departure**

_And I'm trying to catch a breath through the air of death  
Can't see the sun for the clouds  
Those dirty clouds_

"Hey Katara."

Katara slowly raised her head from where it had been resting on the small cot. She had been by her brother's side ever since he had first fallen into unconsciousness. "Sokka!"

He smiled weakly down at her. "It's me, alright."

"Do you need anything? Water? More medicine?"

Sokka laughed a bit at her flustered questions. "Boy, if you pampered me like this _all _the time, instead of just when I'm sick, my life would be perfect."

She slapped him jokingly on his uninjured arm. "Don't push it! You're lucky I even care about you enough to stay here with you." But inside, she was rejoicing at the mere fact that Sokka was awake and conscious again. All the banter between the siblings was just their way of reassuring each other that they were both alive and okay.

Sokka watched his sister while she moved around, pouring him a drink. That bruise on her cheek had subsided significantly since he'd last talked to her. "How long have I been out?"

"About a week." She replied, and handed him the cup. He took it with his uninjured arm. After drinking the whole cup, Sokka set it aside and held his newly bandaged arm up to the light. They both inspected the neat, white, crisscrossing fabric.

"The doctors said that if you'd waited any longer, you might have lost the arm." Katara said quietly.

"Doctors? Where did you get doctors to treat me?"

"Of course doctors! I didn't heal you myself, if that's what you're asking."

"How did you find doctors in this palace?"

She averted her gaze from him, busying her hands with cleaning up some non-existent lint on the bed. "They were Zuko's doctors. The royal physicians."

Sokka said nothing, tight-lipped.

Katara knew what he was thinking. She was strangely annoyed by his stubbornness. "As you seem so grateful, I've already thanked Zuko for his help."

Sokka glared at her. "It's his fault that I was sick in the first place!"

"And then he saved you."

"He didn't save me! His physicians did!"

"He could have ordered you thrown back into the dungeons for dead!"

"He should have!" Sokka burst out. "I never want to be in that man's debt! I'm not grateful for anything he's done for me."

It was Katara's turn to be silent.

"Don't tell me you're _grateful_ to him!"

Her head shot up, eyes blazing at him. "I'm grateful for the mere fact that you are alive! And if that means that I owe Zuko for this, then I'll push away my pride and thank him for saving my brother!"

"Fine."

"Fine."

Sokka was immediately sorry. He hadn't been awake for ten minutes and he and Katara were already fighting. "Hey, Kat?" He ventured.

"Yes?" Her voice was cool.

"I know that you probably don't want to talk about this," He swallowed, then sat straight up with confidence. "But you were wrong. You were wrong when you said Zuko was going to win."

"Did the fever do something to your brain?" Katara said, but without any anger, just weariness. "I've already explained it to you. I won't do it again."

"You might think Zuko will win because he is the stronger one and because he is a murderer. But I have faith in Aang, even if he's only a child." Sokka's eyes were filled with hope. "I have faith in the prophecy."

Katara just shook her head. She was convinced her brother was deluded. "Okay, Sokka. You can have faith in whoever you want to have faith in. But you haven't seen the things I've seen." _You haven't seen the blood and the violence I've seen_.

Sokka just brushed it aside. "Aang _will_ win."

Katara hated being divided on anything with her brother. She hated it when they disagreed. But she could do nothing about it this time. "Let's not talk about this anymore." _Because I'm sick and tired of arguing with everybody in my life_.

Sokka sighed, leaning back again. "Good idea."

"I'm glad you agree."

They were both silent for a moment, merely enjoying each other's presence.

"Katara?"

"Yeah."

"Do you- do you know what's going to happen to me now?"

"What do you mean? You're going to get better."

"I mean afterwards. Do I go back in the cell?"

"I don't know, Sokka. It's not my decision." She shook her head. "You're not my prisoner. If I had it my way, you and Aang would both be out and free by now."

Sokka changed track. "Then tell me, what happens to you?"

"What's been happening every day since I got kidnapped. I live. I think. I wait."

"Wait for what?"

"For something to happen, I guess."

Sokka regarded her closely. Time to ask the question. "Katara, why does he- why does Zuko keep you up here?"

Katara averted her gaze, as if she could avoid the question by doing so. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"I mean why doesn't he just shove you in a cell like and Aang? Why does he keep you with him all the time?"

"If he has a reason, he hasn't told me." Katara whispered. And even she herself wasn't exactly sure of the reason.

"I mean, if anyone should deserve special treatment, it should be Aang, right?" Sokka looked at his sister fully. "Not that I don't think you're undeserving of anything, but Aang's the reason why we're all here in the first place. Me and you, we're just part of the package. We're just people who hang around the Avatar."

Katara wanted out of this conversation fast. It was approaching things she wasn't ready to reveal to her brother. Things she never wanted to tell him.

"Katara, look at me." Sokka said earnestly. "You know that if anything's wrong, you gotta tell me, right? You know I'll try to help."

_If I tell you, you'll hate me. You'll condemn me, you'll call me a whore, slut, prostitute, someone who doesn't deserve to be your sister and have your protection. If I tell you, you won't ever be able to help me. Not even if you wanted to._

She put on a light-hearted smile. "I guess he probably keeps me with him so you and Aang will worry about me. It's his own form of torture. Making you worry!" She laughed a bit at her own joke, and she was surprised at how easily it came out.

Surprised at how easily she could lie to her brother.

Sokka accepted it for the moment, a small smile on his face too. But Katara could see he was still worried, and still not entirely convinced. However, they were both tired and would give the problem a rest for now.

Sokka closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them wide again, as if startled. "Hey. Did you put something in the water? I'm feeling suspiciously sleepy." He gave her a grin.

She couldn't help grinning back, waving a finger at him. "Yes. Sleeping powder. The physicians said you need your rest."

"I _just_ woke up!"

"So? You have to sleep again."

"Fine, _mother_." Sokka closed one eye and smirked at her. Even though it had been a joke, it did not disguise the pain both siblings felt. Their mother was gone. Dead. She would never come back, and however hard Katara tried to take care of her tiny family, she knew she would never take the place of the woman who had given life to both of them.

Soon enough, he'd fallen asleep, and Katara left the room, closing it tight behind her.

* * *

Zuko breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Katara come out into the hall again. She'd done _nothing_ but stay awake next to her brother for the whole week. He knew that she wasn't getting any sleep. _She worries over him too much_, he thought, slightly annoyed. _The doctors already said he'd be fine_. But he knew that Katara had no other family members left, not that he knew of. Sokka was her remaining tie to her old life. A life when she hadn't had to deal with temperamental Fire Lords and the loss of her freedom. 

"How is he doing?" Zuko asked, when Katara neared. She had deep shadows under her eyes. He couldn't have cared less how that bratty boy was doing. What he had meant to say was how are _you_ doing

"Fine. He actually woke up today." Katara smiled up at him. "He's definitely getting better."

_And you're still dead tired_. "What are you going to do for now?"

"I was thinking a quick shower, something to eat, and then I'll go back and stay with him for the night." It was already early evening. She gave him another tired smile and went into his room. Zuko followed close behind.

"I don't think you should stay up tonight. You should get some rest, sleep in a normal bed for once." _Please don't let me sound like I care too much_. "It's just a suggestion."

"Zuko." She gave him a look before stepping into the bathroom connected with his bedroom. "We already went over this every single night for a week. I can't rest until I'm sure Sokka is okay."

"You said yourself that he woke up today. He's fine."

"I know. But still."

"Still _what_?" But she'd already closed the bathroom door in his face. Zuko clenched his jaw. Katara was so caught up in caring for someone else that she'd forgotten entirely about her own health. Zuko wondered what it would be like to care so much about someone else that you stopped caring about your own needs. That you put away your own ambitions, your own goals in order to make room for the person you loved. If he was lucky, he'd find out someday.

Maybe he was already finding out.

He scowled. If Katara wasn't going to realize her own weariness and admit she needed sleep, then he'd _make_ her sleep. Zuko left the room, not bothering to lock it behind him, and crossed the hallway to the sickroom. When he entered, he barely spared a glance for Sokka, who was sleeping peacefully on the cot. Zuko spied the small pouch of white substance that contained the powder for a good sleeping draught. It was the same one Katara had used earlier for Sokka. He pocketed it and returned to his own room.

Zuko was startled to see that another boy was there. It was that servant who'd been with them on the ship. He was looking around confusedly, then finally heard Zuko's footsteps. The stranger whirled around, almost dropping the tray he was holding. He recognized Zuko, then fear took over.

"Oh! Oh… my Lord… I was- I was just looking for the Lady." He stammered.

_What was his name again? Oh yes, Kaz._ Zuko didn't usually make it a point to remember the servants' names. "She's in the bathroom." Zuko replied coolly, nodding at the closed door. Who did this servant boy think he was, just barging into the room whenever he wanted to?

"Oh. Oh- I see." Kaz ducked his head and brought the tray up in front of him, as if hoping to hide behind it. "I brought her- her dinner."

"Just set it on the table."

Kaz nervously did so, almost tipping over the pitcher of water. Zuko refrained from rolling his eyes. The boy was so frightened of him he could barely do his job. It occurred to him that if Katara had been outside at the moment, she would have rushed over and helped the boy and reassured him that he was doing everything fine. But Zuko just stood there and watched.

When he was done, Zuko thanked him in a business-like voice. Kaz scurried out of the room, a bit disappointed that he hadn't been able to talk to the lady tonight. He dearly hoped she was feeling better.

Zuko shut the door behind the servant, and examined the food. He poured just a little of the white powder into everything. The soup, bread, salad, and water. If she didn't eat one thing, she had to eat something else. He made sure to stir the soup so the powder dissolved, and moved the other foods around so nothing white was visible. There.

* * *

After the tub was filled to the brim with hot water, Katara sank in gratefully. Zuko's private bathroom was nothing to laugh at. No trees, outhouses, or regular holes in the ground for this Fire Lord. Indoor plumbing, marble tub, metal fixtures and an assortment of soaps and shampoos were available, most of which had never been opened. Being royalty certainly did have its perks. 

Immersing her head completely under the water, she scrubbed her scalp gently. It felt good to be clean again. Looking after Sokka wasn't much work. She just had to feed him and bring him water to drink whenever he woke up. But it was tiresome worrying all the time. Zuko had told her to get some sleep tonight. The temptation to just fall in bed and close her eyes was great, but her concern for her brother was even stronger.

Sighing, she rose out of the bathtub, water dripping down her body. She dried herself off with a large white fluffy towel, and proceeded to dress again. Her Water Tribe clothes were long gone, and since arriving at the palace, Zuko had notified the servants to provide her with her own clothes. They were pretty much similar to her old outfit of loose leggings with a robe on the outside. Except everything was red and black. Fire Nation colors. Of course Katara preferred blue, but all that mattered was having something to wear. Color really wasn't a major issue.

Hair still damp, she exited the bathroom. Zuko was on the couch, looking deep in thought. Katara began to braid her hair, and noticed the food.

"Did Kaz come already?"

Zuko looked at her and replied "Yes. Do you usually just allow him to come in whenever he wants?"

"He knocks first, of course."

"The door was open this time."

"Zuko," She said. "Don't get paranoid about it. Kaz is a _child_. He's a _servant._ What harm could he do?"

Zuko ignored her, gesturing at the food. "Your dinner's here."

"What about you?"

"I've already eaten."

"Alright." Katara sat down, and inside she prayed that there would be no adverse effects. Taking a quick sniff of everything, she immediately crossed out the bread, meat, and soup. Her stomach rebelled at the thought of ingesting anything but water and a simple salad. Picking up her fork, she began to eat the vegetables.

Zuko watched her carefully. When he didn't look away after a few minutes, she began to get annoyed.

"What, Zuko?"

"Are you vegetarian or something? You only ever eat the salad."

She was a bit surprised at first, then covered up quickly. "No. I'm just not feeling very hungry." In truth, she was starving. But she wasn't going to throw up in front of Zuko.

"You're never hungry."

"Just because I don't eat like a pig doesn't mean I'm not eating healthy."

Zuko decided not to push it anymore. All he had to do now was wait.

Soon enough, Katara finished her light dinner and drank the last of the water. She rose to gather everything on the tray again before Kaz would be back the next morning to take it away. She realized that she felt much more drowsy than she'd thought herself. All this staying up during the night with Sokka must be getting to her.

Katara set the tray on the small dresser next to the door for Kaz to pick up. She was walking back to wipe down the table she'd eaten at, when her mind began to shut down. _So tired. I'm so tired_. Her knees felt shaky, her whole body felt like just slipping under the blankets and drifting away into unconsciousness. But she still had to go back and take care of Sokka. She still had things to do.

Her mind was barely aware when her legs caught on the couch arm and she tipped over, weakly grasping the upholstery. All her senses were slowly shutting down. _Oh I'm tired_.

She dimly registered in her peripheral vision the shadow of Zuko standing up and moving towards her. Katara tried waving him away carelessly, but her arms didn't seem to be responding. Why weren't they responding? _I'm so tired_.

Katara felt Zuko's arms catch her as her legs gave out, and lift her to set her down on the bed. She tried to tell him to take her back to Sokka's room. "I… have to…"

But all he did was put his hand gently over her mouth and whisper something she couldn't hear.

Katara was in a deep, dreamless sleep before Zuko got into bed next to her.

* * *

Sokka woke up in the middle of the night. He really had to pee, and made quick use of the chamber pot underneath his bed. But afterwards, he couldn't fall asleep again. He would have used the sleeping powder Katara had given him earlier, but it wasn't on the table where she'd left it. How strange. Sokka wanted to talk to his sister again. Their conversation from before had left him with a nagging worry. He hadn't liked the way she'd passed off his inquiries lightly and laughed at all his concerned questions about her welfare. And he hadn't liked that shadow in her eyes when he'd asked her if she had any problems she needed help with. He didn't like seeing her anything other than happy. 

And this was the first night that she hadn't stayed in the room with him. Why wasn't she here tonight? Sokka didn't feel the need to be coddled like a baby all the time, but still, it worried him when Katara wasn't where she said she'd be. And she'd said she would be back to help him.

If she wasn't here, she was probably back in her room, sleeping. Sokka couldn't blame her. His sister sometimes got so caught up with worrying about other people that she didn't take the time off to worry about herself. He was glad she was resting but he needed to talk to her again. To make sure she was alright.

Opening the door to his room, he crept carefully out into the hallway. The cold marble chilled his bare feet, and he looked up and down the darkness of the hallway. There were no guards around. Of course. What was the threat from a sick, bedridden man? And the Fire palace was in no danger from being attacked. Not with that enormous Fire Navy out in the harbor, and an entire city surrounding the castle.

And who in the world had serious power to mount a real offensive against the Fire Nation? Most of the rebel factions were broken up in small groups all over the world, more concerned with defending their own land than attacking the Fire Nation. They didn't want the Fire Nation territory. They just wanted their own territory back.

Sokka quietly crossed the hallway. Bright moonlight shone through the gigantic windows. He turned the doorknob to Katara's room as quietly as he could. Zuko wasn't locking her up anymore. Obviously he knew that Katara wouldn't even think of leaving, not when her brother was sick. _But_, thought Sokka, _as soon as I'm well enough and can take care of myself without medicine, I'm leaving with Katara and Aang. _

Pushing open the door slightly, he peered inside, the moonlight spilling through the crack. It illuminated the faces of the people occupying the big bed. There was Katara, sleeping peacefully, her dark hair spread out on the pillow. But she wasn't alone.

Was that _Zuko_ next to her?

* * *

Zuko was awake the instant someone laid their hand on the doorknob and opened the door to his room. Although he was Fire Lord now and could take as much rest as he wanted, the soldier in him kept him a light sleeper. He was always ready to leap up the minute an enemy attacked, even if it was in the middle of the night. 

Zuko tensed in bed, wondering who would have the audacity to sneak into the Fire Lord's room at two in the morning. Was it a servant? An assassin, even?

Light illuminated the face of the intruder. Zuko's eyes narrowed. Was it… _Sokka?_

And in less than three steps, Zuko was out of bed, crossing the floor to the door. He shoved Sokka backwards out into the hall, and the Water boy landed hard on his backside.

"Are you _crazy_?" Zuko hissed in the silence of the empty hallway. "Were you _trying_ to wake Katara up? She's spent all her energy taking care of _you!_ Don't you care that she's on the verge of a breakdown and needs her sleep? "

An unbelievable expression of hatred and anger crossed the younger boy's face as he sat on the ground where he'd fallen. "What were you doing in bed with _my_ sister?"

Zuko was momentarily confused. Oh. So Katara hadn't told her brother anything. Not a single thing.

"Sleeping." Zuko answered warily, knowing Sokka wouldn't take this well at all.

Sokka was already scrambling up from the floor, and leapt at Zuko, pinning the Fire Lord to the wall. "_What were you doing with Katara?"_ Rage clouded his mind.

But Zuko was well trained in all the arts of a warrior. He was older and had more experience. He pushed Sokka off him violently and shoved him to the other wall. The hallway echoed when Sokka impacted with the stone.

"I was making sure she got her rest!" Zuko hissed.

Sokka struggled against him. "Did you touch her, you bastard? Did you _touch her_?"

"What are you accusing me of?"

"You _know_ what I mean! Don't play the part of an innocent little boy, Zuko, we _both_ know what I mean!"

Abruptly, Zuko let go of him and Sokka stumbled back to the middle of the hallway.

The Fire Lord wasn't looking at him now. He gazed out the window, a blank look in his eyes. "That's not for me to say. If your sister feels like telling you about her personal life, she'll tell you. Otherwise, I'll keep her privacy for her."

Sokka bristled. Zuko made it sound like Sokka was the bad guy, and Zuko was the one Katara trusted. _It's not that way!_

And at the same time, Sokka despaired of the fact that something had been going on. Something _had_ happened, and Katara hadn't told him about it. In fact, she'd practically lied. She'd laughed her way out of it, telling him nothing was wrong. Why didn't she trust him? Why didn't she think he would understand her dilemma and try to help her?

Now it was Zuko who was privy to her secrets. Sokka felt like he'd been shoved aside, replaced by _this_ guy. Zuko.

A rustle and patter of booted footsteps from one end of the hall made them both turn around. Four guards from the Fire Army ran towards them, breathless. They stopped, surprised to see their Fire Lord.

"Your Majesty!" The first one panted out as they all arrived. "We heard the commotion and wondered if… if there was an intruder!"

Zuko held up a hand, instantly assuming authority. Sokka couldn't help but notice the way that Zuko commanded his men with confidence, a mere gesture demanding silence. _And he's only one year older than me_.

"I've got it under control. But thank you. Stay here for just a minute." Zuko said. He turned back to Sokka, his face a mask of diplomatic neutrality now. The previous violence and anger were gone, completely covered up. He took something from the inside of his robe. Zuko held it up for Sokka to take.

Sokka opened his hand to receive the small bag, and felt it jingle when it landed in his hand. Money. Enough money to have fed the three of them for six months if they'd still been traveling.

Zuko spoke calmly. "Here's enough money to get you started. You are free to go now, Sokka. You can leave the palace, the city, the harbor, and no one will stop you. I will make sure of it."

Sokka gaped at him open-mouthed. "Wh- _what?_"

"You are free to go now." Zuko gazed at him without any emotion. "If you stay, you are merely using up my resources. I have no further need of you."

When Sokka didn't move, Zuko continued.

"Katara has no further need of you."

Sokka could only continue to stare, jaw open, at the Fire Lord. So this was it? Zuko thought him an annoyance now, and was _paying_ him to leave? The Fire Lord was giving him _money_ along with his freedom? And who was Zuko to assume that Katara didn't want Sokka around anymore? Who did he think he _was_? _I'm her brother!_ He wanted to scream. _I am more to her than you ever will be! All you'll ever be is her jailer!_

Sokka grew angry. "If you think that giving me some coins is enough to make me abandon my sister-"

Zuko cut him off. He didn't look angry, annoyed, or happy. He looked… nothing. "I'm not _asking_ you to leave, I'm ordering you."

"I don't have to listen to you, you-" But before he could finish, Zuko had gestured again, and the four guards had grabbed him under the arms, dragging him away.

"Take him to the border of the city. Don't let him back in, but don't stop him from leaving." The guards nodded and proceeded to take Sokka away.

Sokka struggled, trying to get back to his sister. He began to shout. "_Katara! Katara, help me!_"

But he was already at the end of the hallway, and the door at the end of the hall slammed shut, cutting off Sokka's cries.

Zuko stood in the moonlight, grimly satisfied. But his face did not betray any of his inner thoughts.

He turned around and went back inside the room. Back to Katara. Zuko closed the door behind him, crossed to the bed, and lifted the blankets gently before sliding underneath them, next to the warmth of Katara's body.

The sleeping powder did it's job well. The dreaming woman next to him hadn't woken up, not for a minute. He snaked an arm underneath her back, drawing her close to his chest. She mumbled something, but didn't wake. She unconsciously crept closer to his warmth, unaware of anything that had just happened.

Zuko played with a strand of her hair idly for a minute. Sokka had been a problem, and now that problem was solved. No more worries for tonight.

* * *

Katara woke up slowly the next morning, blinking the bright sunlight out of her eyes. Zuko's arm was flung around her waist. She'd never felt so content and rested in her life. She sighed happily, stretching her body like a cat in the warm sunshine. Her hand reached up, and hit the body next to her. She flipped around, smiling, and saw Zuko next to her, giving her that inscrutable look of his. 

"It was a good idea for me to sleep." She admitted.

Zuko didn't say anything, just continued to look at her.

She sighed. But by now she was already used to his oblique silences. It didn't make her uncomfortable anymore. If he didn't say anything, it meant he had nothing worth saying.

Then she remembered her brother. Katara threw off her blankets and rolled out of bed. "I hope Sokka doesn't mind that I didn't go back last night. I hope he's not worried." She said out loud.

"He's not worried." Zuko said behind her, and she could tell he was out of bed now too. "He's just fine."

"How do you know?" She said as a joke. "What are you, psychic?"

Zuko didn't say anything. Katara just shrugged. Whatever. She went into the bathroom, did all her morning business quickly, and was out the door before Zuko could say anything. She heard him follow her out into the hall, but didn't really care. Would Sokka be much better today? Hopefully he could get out of bed and do some real exercise.

She quickly pulled open the door to her brother's room. "Sokka, I-"

And stopped. There was no one in there. The bed was empty.

Katara stared at the rumpled sheets. Where was her brother?

She turned around to leave the room. Maybe one of the guards had seen him leave. Maybe he was already outside doing laps around the courtyard-

Katara ran smack into Zuko, who had followed her into the room. He caught her by her arms and held her still.

"He left last night." He said calmly down to her.

"_What?_"

"Your brother left late last night."

She gaped at him. "What do you mean?" Her mind refused to comprehend Zuko's words. Sokka couldn't be _gone_.

"He's not here anymore. I let him go last night when you were asleep."

"You- you let him _leave_?"

"Yes." He waited for her reaction.

Katara wrenched herself away from him. "I have to find him! He's not completely well yet! The doctor was supposed to do a final check up on him _today_!" She said it like missing the doctor was the absolute worst thing anyone could ever do in their life. Katara took off down the hall as if thinking that if she ran fast enough, she could still find Sokka and bring him back to her.

Katara hadn't made it halfway down the hallway when Zuko caught her left wrist in her hand.

"He's long gone by now, Katara. He wanted to go. He wanted to leave." _He didn't, not really, but the important thing is that he's gone_.

"No he didn't! He wouldn't have left me!" _Sokka you wouldn't leave me here by myself you wouldn't you wouldn't. Would you?_

"He did."

She whirled around, trying to tug her wrist from his hold. He held it tightly. She stared at him incredulously, with a wary look in her eye. "I don't believe you. I know you, Zuko. I know the type of person you are. You would never release Sokka on a whim. You would never give him his freedom because you are a _nice_ _person_." She spat out the last two words mockingly. "You must have an ulterior motive. I know you did something to him. He's not free."

Zuko's face tightened as well as his grip on her wrist. Katara stared back, chin lifted defiantly. So she'd angered him. Well? It was the truth. He had to face it someday. And better from her than some other poor person who had much more to lose than she did.

"Why don't you believe me?" Zuko replied in a low voice. "I let your brother go. I sent him out with a whole bagful of gold. I didn't do anything to him!" Zuko had thought that Katara would take this a completely different way. He'd thought that she'd be grateful to him for setting her brother free. He'd thought she'd love him for it. Instead, she refused to believe a single word coming out of his mouth. _There is some good in me, Katara_.

"I have to find him." She said steadily, ignoring his words.

Zuko's hand intensified its grip. "You can't."

"Let go! My brother is in danger!"

"Listen to me, Katara!" Zuko yelled. "Just listen to me!"

"You're hurting me." Katara looked down at Zuko's hand gripping her wrist painfully. She could see the tension in his muscles, his hold on her skin, the force he was exerting. He was beginning to twist her arm. It scared her.

He didn't seem to have heard her words.

With one flex of Zuko's hand, he could bend her to her knees, shoving her to the ground. With another twist, he could force her face into the floor. With a third, he could have her crying in pain, begging him to stop. She was no match for his strength, and they both knew it.

_Don't let it happen again please no more bruises I'm so tired of it please_.

Zuko released her, and Katara brought her arm trembling to her chest.

They stared at each other, a hundred years of war, prejudice, and distrust filling the space between them.

Their current situation had begun long before the two of them had even been born. Since the first Fire Lord had started his devastating war on the rest of the world, Water Tribe children had grown up with stories about the monsters that the Fire Nation people supposedly were. How they killed without mercy, how they roasted their victims, how they had no morals, no ethics, and no _honor._ That they waged war because that was the only way Fire people knew how to live. That they did this because Fire was an element that could not survive without destroying something else.

Fire Nation children were raised with the bigoted ideas that everyone else in the world was lesser than they were, and that's why those idiot Earth people, Water people, and Air people deserved to be conquered. Survival of the fittest. Those stupid Water Tribes with their foolish ideas of peace. If peace was so strong, why was war winning? They were all just stupid sheep, and needed strong masters from the Fire Nation to control them.

Values, ideas, and racism filled their minds.

_He's a fire monster. He's predisposed towards violence. He kills. It's part of his element. I shouldn't trust him- I won't trust him. He doesn't deserve my trust_. _He doesn't deserve **me**_

_She's a weak little Water Bender. What does she know? All they have are their stupid ideas of peace. I shouldn't even have helped her with her brother's sickness in the first place. She doesn't deserve my help. She doesn't deserve **me**_.

These ancient discriminations had been instilled in them since childhood. But change is possible. Wisdom can be achieved. People learn. And part of growing into adulthood is the shedding of childish notions, the realization that there are more important things in the world than what your parents have told you. However all-powerful and all-knowing your mother and father seemed to be when you were younger, the things you learn as you mature are more powerful and more enlightening. Your own experiences in life determine the type of person you are, the types or morals, ethics, and ideas you will have when you are an adult.

And this was what they had learned:

That when Katara had almost lost her brother to infection, Zuko had come through and provided her with help.

That when Zuko's temper had been at its worse and he'd hurt the people around him, physically and emotionally, Katara kept forgiving him and always giving him another chance, even when he'd thought he himself didn't deserve it.

That one night when they'd both been unbearably lonely and unbearably hopeless, they'd given themselves to each other. It had been _her_ first time, and it had hurt like a bitch. It had been _his_ first time, and he had been horribly insecure, wondering whether he'd done it right, and whether she was crying from physical pain or emotional pain. Wondering whether the blood was normal.

Both wondering whether or not they'd regret this for the rest of their lives.

Katara lifted her wrist to examine it in the morning light. No bruises. _Maybe he's telling the truth_.

Zuko followed her movements with his eyes. No fear, no anger in her expression. _Maybe she believes me_.

"I want to believe you, Zuko." She said calmly. "But I don't want to either." Because she wanted him to be telling her the truth, but she also didn't want to believe that her brother would have left her here by choice. Was Sokka's freedom worth more than his sister?

Zuko didn't say anything. What could he say? He'd already made his point.

Katara slipped past him, walking back towards the room. She went inside, shutting the door behind her.

Zuko stalked off in the other direction. He had things to do anyways. People to meet. Business to finish. He really needed to pay more attention to this kingdom stuff. More attention to his nation, and less attention to the girl who took up so much of his thoughts nowadays. Iroh had come to him, just a bit worried, telling him that he'd been hearing things about the new Lord Zuko. How the Fire Lord had an uncommon obsession for the Water Tribe prisoner he kept locked up in the royal wing of the palace. How Lord Zuko had no interest in any of the prospective marriages offered to him by his advisors and nobles.

_I'm not obsessed with her!_ Zuko hissed in his mind._ I'm not!_

* * *

After throwing up (_damn hormones_) in the toilet, Katara cleaned herself up miserably and sat down on the couch, looking out the window. She was no longer chained up, and breaking the windows would be easy enough again. But for some reason now, she had no will to leave. No will to escape. At first it had been because she was too worried about her brother's health. But now that Sokka was gone… What was stopping her? Was it her concern for Aang's imprisonment? 

She rested her hand on her abdomen. There was nothing to show for it now. The slightest fluctuation in weight under her skin, unnoticeable to the keenest eye. But Katara knew her own body. Even if she made it to the nearest city outside of Fire Nation borders, it would take a long time to travel there. And by then, who would hire a pregnant woman? How would she support herself? How would she feed herself and the developing child? And when her nine months were up, what would she do? Would she have the child without Zuko's knowledge? Would she go into labor in the midst of strangers, in the midst of people who did not care for her and would not help a stupid girl who'd gotten herself knocked up and refused to tell the father's name?

Hopeless. That was what she was.

She sat there on the couch, merely thinking. As emotionless as she could make herself, she laid out all her options. There were precious few.

Katara's thoughts were eventually interrupted by Kaz. He peeked in meekly, and at a small smile from her, emerged from behind the door balancing his usual tray. He brought it to her slowly.

"Your brother is looking much better today, ma'am!" He squeaked nervously, wondering if he'd gotten the relationship between his lady and the sick stranger she'd been tending right. "Much healthier."

She froze. Kaz dearly hoped he hadn't said anything wrong. "You saw my brother?"

"Yes, miss! I stayed much later than usual last night to wash dishes for a bit of extra money, and I saw him leave the palace." His eyes searched her face earnestly. "He looked much, much better!" Kaz didn't tell her about the guards. Obviously this lady was someone important, and therefore her brother had to be important as well. The guards were probably for protection. A meaningless detail.

Katara said nothing. So it was true. Zuko had not been lying. Sokka had left. And by the way Kaz had described it, he'd left quite willingly. _Why? Why did you leave me, Sokka?_

"Thank you." She said wearily. "Thank you, Kaz."

Kaz bobbed his head subserviently. He wanted to please this lady oh so much. She was so kind to him, giving him extra money when she knew he was already being paid. And she never yelled at him like some of the other aristocrats and high-born nobles did. She was always so nice to him. He wanted dearly to repay her. And giving her information about her brother's whereabouts was the least he could do.

"Would you like anything else, miss?"

"Oh, no thank you. I'm just a little tired, that's all."

He gave a little bow again before leaving.

Katara sat in the silence of her room, the food on the table next to her. She had no interest in food now. She'd force some of it down later, to avoid looking suspicious in front of Zuko or Kaz.

Katara lay down and rest her head against a small embroidered silk pillow on the sofa. She forced the lump of sorrow and confusion in her throat down, down, down, where it couldn't bother her anymore.

_Where are you going, Sokka? Why did you go?_

* * *

**A/N:**Lots of things in this chapter set up events and things for future chapters. Took me a bit longer to think all the details out. Sorry! As for the racism between the Water and Fire people, I thought it was something they didn't touch on much in the show. I decided to include it anyways. It's only common reasoning, right? Look at all the stereotypes and prejudices abound in our own world. Two countries at war- how could they feel anything but hate for each other? And how it's possible to feel something other than hate in the worst of situations.

I know everyone in the Avatar Z/K fan world has already done their own interpretation of the following events: Katara gets kidnapped by Zuko, they have sex, and she gets pregnant. With a few different details in between, of course. It's the most used plotline in the whole of Avatar fanfiction. Why did I choose to jump on this weary bandwagon? I know it's stupid, going along with the latest fad. But before I started writing this, I read a billion of the same plotline stories, and I thought to myself that I wanted to try it out too. I want to try writing the same things. Will I do better? Or will I do worse?

Well apart from that, once I finish this, my next Avatar fic (will also be Z/K) will be decidedly AU. Understand? It will be so different from this, using a plotline I hope is original and un-used. I've thought out most of the basics, and I'm happy with the way things are going. It'll be really, really, really alternate universe. So if you aren't prepared for that, then sorry. It'll still be in the Avatar world, but certain situations and places and events will be changed. People will still mostly be the same though.

**I was wondering about Aang again: does he end up, well, fighting Zuko, like supposedly he's 'destined' to?**  
Noooooot teeeeeelllingggggg!

**Are you going to kill Sokka? Is the baby going to die? That'd be so angsty**.  
Think about it: Would _you_ fall in love with the man who killed your brother? Nope. If Sokka died, Katara would never forgive Zuko, people. And you probably know by now that our favorite sexist, sarcastic, humorous Water Tribe boy ain't dead yet. As for all further questions concerning the unborn child, my lips are sealed.

**Who's your favorite character?**  
Ahahahahah… this is an easy question. No it's not Zuko, it's not Katara, it's not Sokka, and it's not Aang. None of the main characters. It is… THE CABBAGE MAN! He was in the Waterbending Scroll episode, and the King of Omashu episode. He's hilarious. He's the absolute best. I feel so sorry for him and his poor cabbages. I look forward to seeing him more often in future episodes. He hasn't had a cameo yet in this story though… maybe I'll put him in later!

**A/N: Did You Catch It?** I was in bed the night after I posted Chapter 14, and all of a sudden I had a realization that made me want to slap myself hard. Why? I made a humongous, gigantic, big-assed mistake. And guess what? Three lovely, lovely reviewers caught it. May I have the honor of introducing: **Lamenting Fox**, **Flame on the Water,** and **Christa.** These uber-smart reviewers caught the fact that **Katara left the room without having her chains removed.** I completely skipped it over! Apparently, she just strode right out, without being unlocked by Zuko or anything! I slap myself hard now. Let's just all assume that the chains… poofed into the air or… Zuko unlocked them faster than the speed of light, therefore it wasn't worth mentioning. Si? Si.

**Note:** Lyrics from the top come from the song "Oh Me, Oh My" by Imogen Heap. Wonderful, beautiful singer. She's alternative, and deserves much more attention than she gets. Thought the lyrics fit well with this chapter, especially with the whole prejudices idea. It's symbolic, doncha know?


	16. Chapter 16: Reconciliation

**Chapter 16: Reconciliation**

"Would you like to go outside today?"

Katara glanced up, slightly surprised at Zuko's question. She finished drinking the last of her water before standing up from the table, where they had been eating breakfast.

"Of course I would. You'd let me?"

"I don't think there's much danger anymore. Do you?"

Katara was silent, stacking their plates on the tray for the servant to pick up later. What did he mean by that question? Did he mean to ask if she still wanted to leave? Why didn't he just come right out and say it?

"No." Katara finally said. "There is no danger." It had been over a week since Sokka had left the palace. Who knew where he was by now. Katara had spent the first few days lamenting her brother's decision, wondering why he'd left her. After she'd gotten over her initial shock, other things began to worry her. Things like her developing pregnancy.

She was well into her third month by now. The morning sickness was still ongoing, and she'd had a hard time of it concealing her nauseous spells from Zuko. He'd only caught her once, and that she had attributed to a little stomach flu. He was gone majority of the day, and by the time he came back, Katara had cleaned up all evidence.

The size of her abdomen was starting to increase as well. It still wasn't big enough to be noticeable, and didn't even make a bulge beneath her dress. She looked perfectly fine on the outside. But soon, the changes would be apparent, and then how would she hide it from Zuko?

Because it was true she was terrified. Terrified of everything concerning this baby. She was terrified of Zuko finding out, and terrified of the eventual birth. How would she handle it? Would anyone else help her through labor?

And her child. Katara was already beginning to worry about her baby's future. Would Zuko even believe her if she told him it was his? Would he name the child as a legitimate son or daughter? Or would the baby become a nameless bastard, a mistake that would never acknowledge and love? That would depend wholly on Katara's position. What was she to Zuko? A mistress? Illegal concubine? As far as she knew, the rulers of the Fire Nation had only ever had one wife at a time, and did not keep large harems.

She bit her lip. It was all desperately confusing, and so incredibly awkward that she never broached the subject with him. Katara knew that soon enough they would both have to emerge from their pretend world and face the reality. Zuko's subjects would want to know if they had an heir for the crown, or if their monarch was just dabbling with loose women. Her presence here meant everything and nothing to the country. She wondered if rumors had circulated the city yet. The palace staff certainly knew of her presence. What did the rest of the world make of her?

There was only one way to find out.

"Let's go now." She said firmly, tugging at Zuko's arm. She was tired of hiding from the rest of the world. Katara told herself that if she stayed inside any longer, she'd go crazy. It wasn't true, not really. She was terrified of meeting people and seeing their reactions to her. Since when had she become so withdrawn from social situations? Oh yes, the minute Zuko had limited her access to the outside world. That must have been it. Well now she was going to fix all of that.

Zuko nodded and stood up from his seat. He was willing enough to take time out of his busy schedule to accompany her outside. Obviously he didn't trust her with mere guards anymore. She'd proved her ability of escaping the men who were supposed to be watching her. When you want something done well, you do it yourself.

Katara had been prepared for some shocking event that would finally let her out of the palace, but it was as simple as stepping through a doorway. They walked over the same green lawn that Katara had tried escaping over two weeks before. They said nothing of it. Soon they arrived at the beautifully kept gardens surrounding the southwest side of the palace.

"It's mostly kept for social functions and ceremonies." Zuko said offhandedly as they passed the front gate.

"It is beautiful." Katara noted quietly. Flowers and bushes of all sorts surrounded the neat pathways through a miniature landscape. A light fragrance wafted through the air, and Katara began to relax. Until she noticed the others.

There wasn't a shortage of visitors who had come to admire the gardens today. Most seemed to be court ladies and gentlemen come to flirt or improve their social standings. All of them were dressed stylishly, and laughed and chatted as if they were not at war. As if people elsewhere in the world were not suffering from their nation's decisions and destruction. These privileged young men and women could only benefit from it all. If it meant more land, it meant more money.

Majority of them recognized Zuko and made polite bows and salutes as they passed. Eyes followed Katara, curious eyes that could become malicious and calculating in an instant. Her palms began to sweat. She began to regret the decision to come outside. Why had she agreed to come under the scrutiny of these high-society brats? She had nothing in common with them. She did not want to make friends. She did not want to make connections in order to be invited to the next banquet. She had no reason to be out here.

Whispers followed them. Whispers that were only whispers because the gossipers wanted to uphold the idea that they were being polite. But some were raised loud enough that Katara knew she was meant to hear it all on purpose.

"… that Water girl has finally come out…"

"… wouldn't believe the things I've been hearing…"

"… always with the Lord Zuko…"

"… He never leaves her…"

"… apparently she's some sort of important floozy from those common Water Tribes they consider a civilization…"

"… I heard he keeps her with her with him _all_ the time, including nights…"

The loudest rumors came from a small group they had just passed by. The leader seemed to be an extremely confident young woman with a bright peony blossom in her hair. She was hanging onto the arm of a fashionable young man, and the rest of the group followed them like a devoted entourage. When passing, they paid their respects to Zuko, but had nothing for Katara but slanted looks from under eyelids and slightly raised eyebrows.

Katara clenched her hands together to keep from striking out. She snuck a quick look over at Zuko, but his eyes were trained straight ahead, as if he hadn't heard anything. But she knew he had, for the Fire Lord wasn't a deaf man. If he chose to ignore it, it meant that the whispers weren't important enough to deserve his attention.

And if they weren't meaningful enough to deserve Zuko's attention, Katara thought that they didn't deserve her attention either. She would suck it up and ignore them.

The two of them passed silently into a quieter section of the gardens. This section was less flamboyant, with fewer showy flowers. It was more solemn, with straight bamboo branches and graceful, weeping willows. Everything threw a gentle green light on the ground. The pathway they were walking on led to a small, out-of-the-way pavilion near the edge of the gardens. If there hadn't been a tiny trail leading up to it, the pavilion may very well have gone unnoticed behind the maple trees lining the edge of the main pathway. It was made of clean white marble, and had tiny gold details on the roof and pillars.

"It's a memorial." Zuko said quietly as they neared the unremarkable gazebo.

Katara hadn't asked, but now that he'd said it, she was curious. If it was a respected memorial, that was probably why they were the only people in this section of the gardens. No fun little garden parties for the noble's children here. "A memorial for what?"

"A memorial for who." Zuko gently corrected her as they stepped up the shallow marble steps into the cool interior. They passed under a graceful, gently waving willow planted just outside the entrance. It really was very small, just a tiny little temple-like enclosure with a block of carved black stone in the center. The writing on the stone was filled in with gold. The calligraphy had been etched in the archaic Fire Nation style from ancient times, used for formal documents and royal signatures.

"Who?" She asked.

"My mother."

Everything was very still here. There had been wind earlier, but it seemed as if they moment they entered the pavilion, the rustling of the trees and unseen birds had stopped. Both of them stood close together, staring down at the writing on the stone.

"Your… mother?" Katara was slightly surprised. Zuko had never spoken of his mother. In fact, _nobody_ in the world ever spoke of Ozai's wife. Katara realized it now. Of course Zuko had to have had a mother. She wasn't famous like her warrior husband or her banished son. Somewhere, in all the hullabaloo of war and destruction, this woman's name had disappeared from history, had never been spoken on anyone's lips, and had completely faded from memory until all that was left of her was this tiny marble temple in the back corner of the royal gardens.

Katara began to wonder about Zuko's mother. What had happened to her? If she had a memorial, that meant she was deceased, not hiding from the public in some castle on the other side of the Fire Nation lands. And apparently, someone had loved her enough to build her an elegant alter, however modest and unremarkable it was.

"Did your father build this?" Katara had a hard time imagining that ambitious Ozai could have loved anyone enough to construct a memorial for a woman.

"No." Zuko said calmly, looking down at the black block of stone. "I did. Just before I left."

"Oh."

"I wasn't here when they finished it, of course. But I came around to see it several weeks ago. It was just the way I'd planned for it to be built. Peaceful. Unnoticeable. Simple yet elegant and… beautiful."

Katara was silent for awhile. She felt like she was standing on sacred, venerable ground. What kind of woman had Zuko's mother been? Had she been all the things that Zuko had said when he'd been describing the temple? Simple, elegant, and beautiful? She wondered what had happened, how that peaceful woman had come to be the raging Fire Lord's wife. Arranged marriage? Maybe even love, possibly?

She had seriously wondered about Zuko's capacity for feeling earlier. She had worried whether he'd inherited way too many of his father's damnable traits. Did he have even the slightest ability to love anyone?

And now she knew. Zuko had loved his mother.

And very much so indeed, if he'd wanted to build her something lasting and eternal even when he knew he was leaving his home, and there was the good possibility that he might never come back to see his mother's altar's completion.

Katara moved closer to him, slipping her fingers into his hand. His palm tightened around hers. She didn't look at his face, but kept her focus on the simple black block in the middle of the pavilion.

"What does it say?" She couldn't read the archaic styled Fire writing. The graceful gold calligraphy stared up at her, all that was left of a dead woman who had given life to the man she was standing next to.

**Lian**

**Beloved Mother and Loving Wife**

**Autumn of 1160 to Autumn of 1194**

_Weep not for the memories_

Zuko solemnly read the inscription, and Katara listened respectfully. There was nothing special about it. Nothing extraordinary. Lian. What a simple name. Not incredibly feminine, and not a popular and well-known name for the time period either. It wasn't fancy or ear-catching.

It was just a simple name. Easy to say. Easy to forget.

"_Weep not for the memories_." Zuko repeated. "That was from a poem she liked. I forget who the author was."

Katara said nothing. Inside, she felt grateful and humbled that Zuko had taken her here. It wasn't the first time he'd come here since he got back. He must have been eager to see the finished building when he finally arrived at home again. He may have visited it the very first night. But he'd chosen to bring her here today. It was obviously a very private place, close to his personal self and not shared often with outsiders.

There was no need to say anything. He sighed deeply and Katara leaned her head gently on his shoulder. Now she was glad she'd come out today. Just being in this quiet, peaceful place brought calmness and serenity.

After a few more minutes, they left the peaceful little temple behind them and ventured down the path again, hands still clasped gently together. They made a picturesque couple, out enjoying the sunshine. They didn't talk small talk. They didn't send each other gooey, mushy smiles. They merely enjoyed the peace.

Katara was still in the haze of happiness when she realized that the whispering group of young nobles from before were quickly closing in on them. They made it seem like a coincidence that they happened to be on the same path, but as Katara grew more alert, she could catch the calculating looks and fake smiles as those ignorant fools closed in on her and Zuko. That girl with the bright peony in her hair was obviously the leader of the pack. Her escort was nothing more than a prop to elevate her own status.

As they neared, they began the customary greetings to Zuko.

"Good morning, my Lord!"

"How are you doing, your Majesty?"

"Fine day, isn't it, Lord Zuko?"

Zuko gave them all polite nods, and Katara could see his eyes were thinly veiled with his monarch look that he used when dealing with his subjects. The elite young aristocrats didn't leave after paying their respects as Zuko had expected, but instead lingered and shuffled a bit closer. Annoyance grew inside Katara. What was their intention? She could see the looks from them that pointed at her left hand, held closely inside Zuko's own right hand. She merely tightened her fingers slightly, and gave them her own neutral, blank-faced look. She wished they would just leave. Katara had been having a fine time with Zuko earlier.

But, alas, they all had something else on their minds. The peony girl sidled even closer, losing her escort, and gave Zuko a secretive look from under her dark lashes. "My dear Lord Zuko! Don't tell me you don't remember me!" She made a slight pout with her cherry-red lips, flirting with the Fire Lord.

Katara couldn't help the heat that ignited in her chest. _Gold-Digger_, She thought silently to herself. _She's nothing but a manipulative girl who's desperate to get her hands on royalty_. Although she told herself that Zuko would definitely recognize the signs of a fake woman intent on grasping power and favoritism, she couldn't help the small worry and jealousy that began to plague her mind. _Zuko wouldn't fall for it_.

But the peony girl was indeed beautiful. Much more beautiful than Katara. She was the epitome of noble upbringing, and her genes had gifted her with exotic, sloe-dark eyes and a perfectly strait, shapely nose. Ivory skin smoothed her face , and she looked like she'd never had one blemish in her entire life. Gracefully tilted eyebrows and long, curled lashes that were made for flirting accompanied the noblewoman's shining black waterfall of hair. Her dress and jewelry were no small matter either. Delicate silks and embroidery covered her curvaceous frame. She was everything Katara found lacking in herself.

Zuko made another polite bow to Peony Girl, and politely apologized for not remembering her name.

_Take that!_ Katara thought triumphantly. _He doesn't even remember who you are!_

But Peony Girl just laughed a perfect, tinkling laugh and fluttered her lashes again. Her devoted little posse laughed along with her, as if anything she found funny must be the most hilarious thing in the world. Tilting her head to the side, she gave Zuko another flirtatious look. "Adia, your Majesty. I am Adia. My father is one of your respected advisors, Huang. You remember _him_ of course? And, oh yes, my older brother Sakai served with you during your absence from the capital! He is, I believe, an officer on the _Golden Flame_." Adia finished reciting her lineage and gave Zuko another prompting look.

_Is that how you define yourself?_ Katara wondered disdainfully. _You define yourself by association with other, more powerful men in your life? You are so-and-so's daughter, so-and-so's sister, and what's next, so-and-so's wife? What have you ever done yourself that deserves merit, that you can say you did, that you can say you truly earned?_ And what was so great about being related to Sakai? That man was an idiotic moron as far as Katara was concerned. _Maybe it runs in the family?_

But Zuko did not let any of his inner thoughts show. He gave Adia an apologetic smile and said, "I do remember your father and brother, Miss Adia. I'm sorry I could not place you earlier."

Adia laughed again. Katara felt like slapping her every time she tinkled that perfect giggle. "Oh, no problem at all, my Lord. Now you're back, we'll have all the time we want to catch up, yes?"

Then she turned her beautiful porcelain face on Katara. "And who is this?" Adia asked in a perfectly polite voice. Katara didn't know whether she was asking Zuko or herself.

Zuko took Katara's silence as a go-ahead to answer. "Katara is my… guest from the Water Tribe."

Adia laughed again, one hand coming up to cover her ruby lips. "From the Water Tribe? The darling little community I've heard so much about?" She smiled patronizingly at Katara, and so did the rest of her followers.

Katara was out of her element, both literally and metaphorically. She felt trapped by all the looks the nobles were giving her, waiting for her reaction.

She had no idea how to play these word games that the young people at court seemed to grow up on. Everything that was said had a double meaning. Was this a concealed insult Adia was directing at her? "Darling little community"? It sounded demeaning. Or was Katara just overreacting? Katara decided to just play it safe for now. Adia was the stronger one, at least socially, here. She knew how to manipulate and confuse and trap. Katara didn't want to make a mistake and end up looking like a fool.

"Yes, indeed." Katara gave Adia her own polite smile. "Although nowhere near Kotzut's magnificence, my home is very dear to me." Translation: I may be poorer than you and a commoner to boot, but don't insult my origins, dearest Adia. Or else.

Adia's exotic eyes sharpened significantly. The laughter from the posse died down until only plastic smiles remained. "Is that so?" She turned to Zuko again.

"She is a… guest, my Lord?"

Zuko nodded silently. He didn't seem to want to get involved with anything. His palm tightened a bit around Katara's. She couldn't decipher what he meant by it. A warning? Or support?

Adia turned back to Katara, still smiling incessantly. "How do you find the guest quarters of the palace, Katara?"

She had not graced Katara with any sort of title before her name. Not _Miss_, not _Madam_, and not _Lady_. Was it an oblique insult?

_Are you beginning to close the trap?_ Katara thought angrily. _Trying to trick me into saying something incredibly dumb, stupid little Water Tribe girl that I am?_ Adia must have heard all the rumors surrounding Katara and Zuko, and she was playing her first card.

Zuko grew tense next to her, but Katara squeezed his hand. She could take care of herself. She had handled worse things than spoiled bratty rich folk before. Things like sorrow, war, and death.

"My room? It's absolutely breathtaking, Adia." Katara replied. I'm not giving you a title either, jerk. "I mean, compared to the conditions back home. Lord Zuko was kind enough to gift me with quarters that possess, might I add, an _incredible_ view at night." She tugged one eyebrow upwards ever so slightly. _Take it whichever way you want, bitch. I'm not scared of you. _

Katara noticed triumphantly that Adia's eyes flashed with rage before that perfect mask descended over her exotic face again. _Understand what I mean, dear?_ _You've lost_.

Adia gave Katara and Zuko an even tighter smile. But Katara could see that cold, calculating look underneath her cheery exterior. Peony girl knew she'd lost this round, but she still had the advantage.

Katara was absolutely alone here, other than Zuko. Adia had friends and social connections all the way up the totem pole. However helpless and feminine she pretended to be, Adia was still the daughter of a noble and had a brother in a high position in the army. She had power through association.

But no matter how much contempt Katara had for the idea, knowing the right people in the right places was everything in court life.

And she was being utterly hypocritical. Katara had power as well, for she was associated with the biggest boss of them all- the Fire Lord. However new a monarch Zuko was, he was still the ruler of the kingdom. Everyone in the Fire Nation wanted to get on his good side, especially all the dignitaries and upper-class blue bloods in the royal capital of Kotzut. And now that everyone knew she had his protection, Katara had guaranteed immunity. She wasn't stupid. She knew that if it weren't for him, these petty aristocrats would have torn her to shreds already.

And that's why Adia gave them a fluttering good-bye and left with her entourage. She knew that she could do nothing, not when Zuko was standing right next to Katara. She would never do anything to compromise her father and brother in the Fire Lord's eyes. However useless and spiteful Adia was, she was not an unintelligent girl.

Zuko watched them leave with guarded eyes. As soon as they turned the corner, he relaxed and gave her an accusatory glance.

"_What?_" She protested.

"You didn't have to do that."

"Do what? I have no idea what you're talking about." She blinked her eyes at him.

"Don't play innocent with me. I need her father's support. He's a well-respected councilman and retired commander."

"So you'd suck up to the daughter just so she'd put in a good word for you with her father?"

"That's not what I meant-"

She cut him off. "I thought it was the other way around. _They_ need _your_ approval. You have the ability to have their heads chopped off if you command it."

Zuko shook his head at her. "It's not like that, Katara. Being Fire Lord doesn't mean having absolute power." He stopped for a minute, as if thinking. "Well, maybe it is. But it takes awhile to achieve it. I can do many things, Katara, but I'm new. I haven't been Fire Lord for more than two months yet."

"So?"

"_So_ it means that I don't have the full support of the country yet. They don't trust me. Neither do any of those old advisors and councilmen who used to serve my father. I'm more than three decades younger than all of them. They probably think I'm immature and will make rash decisions."

"Are you? Will you?"

"That's not the point! The point is that they have no trust in me. They are watching my every move in order to determine what kind of Fire Lord I am. They don't have a choice in me being Fire Lord- it's my inheritance and I've been trained for it ever since I was born. It's my birthright. But they can undermine me and form alliances behind my back. They can take power away from me."

Katara regarded him quietly. She'd had no idea being Fire Lord was so… complicated. She'd thought it was just point, command, and execute. "How did your father do it?"

Zuko took a deep breath. "He had about forty years to assert his power. He was a good politician, skilled at manipulating people to do what he wanted them to do. If they refused, he used threats. Force."

"Threats?"

"Hostages. Usually family members. If one of his advisors or governors was acting out of turn, or gave Ozai a cause for suspicion, that man's family would suddenly receive a royal invitation to move out to some bleak old mansion on the outskirts of the empire, cut off from all civilization. Nobody would know for sure where they were. Anything could happen out there. They would stay cut off from the world, under constant surveillance and solitary life with no one but the guards assigned to them until my father was satisfied that the offender was scared enough and meek enough to do his bidding. And if the offender's cousin or old aunt had a curious little 'accident', that would only help to further my father's blackmail."

Katara was silent for a moment. "And you could never do that? Or you just wouldn't?"

"It's not my… way. My father had very… strong opinions and if he was argued with he had… eccentric ways of dealing with people."

_I'm glad you're not like that_. "I see. And that's why Adia is important to you?"

"She's not important to me! I just need her father's backing."

"Uh-huh."

"I mean it. Huang's never been entirely supportive of me. He was good friends with Commander Zhao."

"Oh."

"You seemed to deal with Adia well enough. But were the insults and… suggestive comments… necessary? She did seem to take it the wrong way."

"She deserved it."

"For what? Flirting with me?"

"_No!_ She just… I don't like her."

"Jealous?"

"_No!_"

"Do you really enjoy the view at night?"

"_Zuko!_"

He laughed at her frustrated expression. "No need to make a huge deal out of it. I was just… joking."

She glared up at him, then couldn't help the grin that overcame her scowl. "I guess I _might_ like the things I see in my room."

"I'm glad."

They walked in silence for a moment, both feeling better about everything. It had been awhile since they'd last bantered like this. Katara thought they almost seemed like a normal couple. _Normal? Since when has normal ever described our… relationship?_

"Are they all like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like Adia, I mean. Do they all want to sink their claws into the most powerful man they can get their hands on? Are they all gold diggers?"

"I'm not exactly sure what you mean."

"I mean that do they ever look beyond how much money you have and how much prestige your family has? Do they ever see… _you_?"

Zuko was silent for a bit. It seemed she might have hit a weak spot. "I'm sure there's a few out there that aren't so power hungry. Not in the court though. All of us are raised on the idea that power, money, and prestige goes with survival. We are fighting a war, Katara, and survival is the most important thing in a war."

"Don't over dramatize your court. You're not fighting a war here in the throne room. You're having petty power squabbles."

"Same thing. War is a squabble over land and control and trade."

"It involves death."

"I know that."

They both knew it. And war wasn't something either of them wanted to talk about, not on this beautiful day when nothing seemed wrong with the world except for a jealous, greedy noblewomen who had bothered them for a couple moments.

"Have you gotten a lot of marriage proposals since you've been back?"

"What, envious again?"

"Answer the question, dammit!"

He laughed a bit. She liked it when he did that. "A… couple."

"Interesting. You're what, eighteen?"

"So?"

"How old have your prospects been?"

"I had one offer from a father who wanted to betroth his six-year-old daughter to me. She came from a good family, and as far as I could tell from the portrait he sent, she will become quite good-looking someday. Right now she's missing her two front teeth."

"That's disgusting. What father would do that?"

"He has a lot of money, and is well-respected in the city."

"Still. Why is everyone trying to marry you off?"

"If my father were still alive, he would have arranged something for me by now. A marriage that would benefit, protect, and strengthen the country."

"You're eighteen. You don't need to be married."

"The nation needs the assurance of its next ruler. We only feel secure if we have several infant heirs lined up for the throne, in case one of them dies. My father took a chance with me being an only child."

Katara tried hard not to think about heirs and babies. "Oh. You could have died anytime, and the Fire Nation would have been left without a ruler when your father passed away?"

"Well-"

"If so, I should have killed you awhile ago." She smiled, assuring him that she was joking. But he didn't seem to take it that way.

"Well, even if you had, you saw what Zhao was doing before I arrived."

"What?"

"Ruling the country. Even though he wasn't positive I wasn't dead and unsuccessful. There's always someone waiting in the wings to take your position. Some will kill for it. It's happened before."

"You're a very violent nation."

"It's a tradition."

She couldn't tell whether he was joking or not. "Um-"

"I'm joking."

"No you're not." Katara finally decided. "You are a violent people. Always wanting to wage war on everybody else."

A sigh. "Don't get started with me."

"I'm not getting started on anything! I'm just saying, if you could just stop and think and realize what you were doing-"

"We've been over this before."

"I'm _just saying-_"

Zuko closed one hand gently over her mouth. "I don't feel like arguing right now."

She glared at him, but couldn't keep it up for long. Katara wasn't really in the mood to fight either. She hated fighting. Like her people, she preferred peace. Even if it was only between two people, not two warring nations.

"I must do what I have to do." Zuko said, removing his hand from over her mouth. "And you must do what you have to do."

"I don't have to do anything!"

"Then you're luckier than I am."

Katara sighed and squeezed their interlocked hands together, leaning into his arm. He was relaxed and in a good mood. She should enjoy this while it lasted. "Are you implying that you don't necessarily want to fight in the war?"

"I'm not implying anything. I am Fire Lord, and being Fire Lord means having to do… Fire Lord things."

When he said it like that, he made it sound so simple. As if he just had a few chores to do, a few laws to sign and put into action, and a couple ceremonies to attend. It didn't sound like Zuko had to kill people or command armies or order people to sacrifice themselves for their nation. It didn't sound like being Fire Lord was hard at all. It didn't sound like death was part of the package.

But Katara knew it was. Katara knew that death was part of Zuko, and that it was something he wouldn't be able to shake off, ever. Because it was part of who he was, it was part of it his duty and honor, and it was part of who he was born to be.

And that's why she chose not to say anything more.

* * *

**A/N:** Some of you were clamoring for more FLUFF. Hopefully this is satisfactory. If some of you prefer more violence and angst, well remember this is A ROMANCE. They have to fall in love sometime.

**How did Katara leave the room with out her gold chains being?** I got several like this question. All I have to say is:  
Please read the author's notes. And if you asked this question, especially read the A/N at the end of Chapter 15. These things are important, if you don't mind me saying. It clears up a lot of confusion, and it's my way of communicating with the readers. It sort of bugs me when people don't, because then I get the same questions over and over again.

**How long does it usually take you to write one chapter?**  
Sorry to Monkey 5ive that I didn't answer this last time. Anywhere from one day to one week. And I've done two chapters a day before, back when I had 2000 words a chapter. But for the longer ones (8000 or 10,000) it takes five days to a week. Also depends on if schoolwork and finals get in the way (like now).

**How long do you think this fanfic will be?**  
Argh. Can you believe I used to think this would end at Chapter 10? Well, as of now, I'm thinking close to Chapter 20 or even more.

**When do you think your new story will come out?**  
As soon as I finish this one. Some authors juggle five or more at the same time, but I like focusing my attention on one, instead of multiple. There's no set date. Keep me on author alert and you'll know when the first chapter of the new story is out.

Thanks for 500+ reviews!

**Disclaimer:** Nothing belongs to me. The lyrics "Weep not for the memories" comes from the song Angel by Sarah McLachlan. All original characters introduced (including Adia and her family) belong to me. Everything else belongs to the people who own Avatar. Don't sue, I have no money.


	17. Chapter 17: On Fire

**Chapter 17: On Fire**

"Good afternoon, gentlemen."

"Good afternoon, Lord Zuko." The planning room was full of commanders, advisors, and various other men who had served his father, and who now served him. They dutifully responded to his greeting as he strode through the grand double doors towards the head of the long discussion table. Although they had all greeted him politely, Zuko could feel their eyes, calculating and measuring as he settled into his seat. He looked down the table at the double row of solemn faces on either side. The room was dim, lighted only by torches and lamps on the walls and table. Flame red tapestries and the sigil of the Fire Nation hung on the wall behind him. Iroh sat on his right, the only true pillar of support in a roomful of distrustful old men. _Time to get to work_.

"First matter of business: the war."

A man three places down on the left side stood up and bowed.

"Commander Shen." Zuko acknowledged him. The fifty-year-old man was a veteran of war, and had served Zuko's grandfather even before Ozai's rule. Shen had served three generations of Fire Lords now, and Zuko knew he was someone to be reckoned with. Thankfully, the man was entirely loyal to the Fire Nation, and was not an adept politician. That meant Shen concerned himself with winning the war, no matter who it was sitting in the throne. Zuko knew there was no threat from this man.

Shen gave another polite bow before speaking. "Our armies are well under way, your Highness, but recently a troubling matter has arose and needs your attention now."

Commander Shen turned to the giant map that covered one wall of the room. Red dots were the Fire Nation, Green dots the Earth Kingdom, and Blue dots the Water Tribes. There were precious few blue dots, and the red dots were surrounding the green slowly and effectively. The red dots and green dots were almost equally matched, but it was apparent that the red was quickly gaining in numbers, based on their strategic positions.

"In the past," Commander Shen began, "the opposition against us has been relatively weak. The renegade armies in the forests of the Earth Kingdom did not band together, instead, they fought in separate factions against our great army, and majority of the time, did not have a leader capable enough to unite them into one force. As we all know, it was a weak strategy. Divided, they fall. United, they might have some chance. Thankfully, they never figured that little piece of wisdom out."

This provoked a low chuckle around the table. Zuko permitted himself a small smile at Shen. The man was popular, and had the support of many of the other commanders present. It would not do Zuko harm to show Shen a little approval now and then.

"Unfortunately," Shen continued, now somber again. "They seem to have gained a few intelligence points since our first great Fire Lord began this glorious war. They have learned, and I have been hearing things from my intelligence gatherers over the past few months."

The room was silent now, listening to this piece of news. Something bad was definitely happening if the enemy had gotten smarter. The Fire Nation had always been two steps ahead of everyone else in the field of warfare. Would that finally change now?

Shen looked to Zuko for the go-ahead, and Zuko nodded, feeling reassured. The old commander had not had to make a show of looking for the young Fire Lord's permission to speak. The fact that he did showed the other councilmen that Shen respected Zuko and saw him as a ruler worth commanding under. It was a sign of clear support.

"From what I have heard, the previously scattered Earth Kingdom armies are starting to gather in this area." Shen pointed to a group of green dots on Earth Kingdom land. It was not located near the sea, so a sea battle was out of the question. It was located further inland, deep in the forests of the kingdom. A smaller number of blue dots was camped right next to them. "What is even more disturbing is the fact that Water Tribes have also begun sending men to the location."

Shen turned to look directly at Zuko. The Fire Lord made his gaze calm and attentive. He would show Shen the same respect Shen had shown Zuko.

"As far as I know, they haven't started anything yet. They have not engaged in battle with any of our own forces, and-"

"Do we even _have_ any forces in that area?"

All heads swiveled from Shen to look at the man who'd interrupted the revered commander. Zuko felt a curl of distaste inside him, but showed nothing on the outside. He couldn't play favorites.

It was Huang, Adia and Sakai's father. The old nobleman stood up slowly from his seat, slightly stooped from age. Huang had no history in the army. He'd never served as a soldier, much less a commander of Shen's rank. He had no strategic education, no physical training, and an average Firebending ability. The only reason he was in this room was because of his inherited wealth. Adia and Sakai's father came from a long-standing, respected line that was almost as old as Zuko's own family tree. And they had money. Lots of it. Most of which Zuko needed in order to keep operations going.

It was all about the politics. And Huang loved to wave it over their heads, the fact that he was needed and they could do nothing but pretend to respect him in order to get to his wealth.

_Fucking old geezer_. Zuko thought, a polite look on his face. _The only reason you're in hear is because we need your gold. Your money is indispensable. And instead of helping your country like a loyal citizen, you prefer to shove it in our faces and interfere with matters of war, matters which you don't understand and will never understand_.

Shen, a bit tenser than before, turned from his map and gave Huang a polite, inquiring look. "You asked if we had troops stationed in the area."

"Yes." Huang said imperiously.

Shen, the same neutral mask on his face as Zuko had, nodded his head and returned to his map. "As you can see, we do not currently control the area that the Earth army is gathering in-"

"Why not?"

The commander tensed even more, but showed no other indication of annoyance at Huang's interruption. "Because it is so far inland, and our ships can only land on coastline, getting our soldiers into that forest was always a problem. Supply lines and long days of marching would be required, and to what gain? There was never anything there worth taking except for lots of trees. No trading ports, no needed resources, and no populated towns or cities. It's an empty land filled with wood and animals."

"I bet you regret it now. If we had an army there, we wouldn't be having this problem right now."

Zuko had to refrain from rolling his eyes at Huang. Several other men at the table didn't seem to have the same control Zuko did, and gave each looks of exasperation. Putting men in that forest before would have been a complete waste of resources, time, and soldiers. There were other areas that needed attention. Huang obviously thought himself the smart one for pointing out their insignificant overlook.

Shen gave Huang a suffering look. "True. But there was no need for our armies there before."

"But there is _now_."

A few sighs resounded around the room. Zuko felt it was his time to speak up, in order to prevent any further waste of meeting time by Huang.

"Thank you." Zuko nodded at Huang and Shen. The two men glared at each other, but kept silent in the presence of their Fire Lord. It bit at Zuko to have to pretend to be grateful to Huang, but four years of exile had taught him lessons. Banishment had taught Zuko that control was the ultimate tool in dealings with other men. Since he'd lost control of his tongue last time he'd been in this room at the age of fourteen, and his father's anger-

Zuko cleared his head without changing his outside expression. He didn't need to go into bad memories. Now was not the time.

"We thank you for your concern and precaution, Huang." Zuko continued smoothly. "Now I think it would benefit us all if we let Commander Shen continue his briefing. I personally am a little behind on certain matters, and it would be a great help to me if I could catch up to the rest of you."

Several murmurs of assent and agreement echoed around the room. Zuko had humbled himself in the eyes of his men, and it had helped them believe in him all the more. He had proved that he wasn't an arrogant, hotheaded teenager who knew nothing about ruling a country. He had recognized his own faults and asked them to make time for his shortcomings. Zuko saw General Tzu give him an approving glance and Admiral Gen nod slowly.

Zuko relaxed a bit inside. This was going better than he had thought. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Huang exchange a look with his son. Sakai had recently been promoted to Commander of his own small fleet. But not because Zuko had wanted the promotion for Huang's son. It was because Zuko had needed Huang's money, and the moron had been making allusions to his son's wish about moving up in the army. It had pained Zuko to pass up several other, more promising men for the position, but Huang had needed to be appeased. The father and son duo were his greatest opposition since he had first taken the throne. Fortunately for Zuko, nobody else liked them all that much either.

Shen was speaking again. "Although there are not many of them, the Water Tribe people sent to convene with the Earth Kingdom do pose a threat to us."

He paused, as if he had difficulty saying the next few words. "As you all very well know… water is our- is our country's greatest… weakness." Shen said stiffly, and all the other men at the table looked a bit uncomfortable. It pained them all to have to acknowledge weakness. "Thankfully, there are not many of them. But in the natural order of all things, everybody knows water drowns out fire."

There was a bit of silence before Shen rushed on. "However, if we can manage to outnumber these Waterbenders, and slowly destroy them, we will regain our previous advantage." Shen looked at Zuko again. "The Waterbenders are probably our biggest threat in our coming plan to defeat the gathering enemy army."

The recently promoted Commander Sakai stood up arrogantly. "Everybody knows water is a weakness for even the most powerful and noblest Fire Lor-, I mean, Bender." The tiniest smirk graced a corner of his lips. Huang smirked as well from his seat.

The entire room fell silent. Nobody had missed Sakai's little "stumble".

Zuko gripped the arms of his chair silently, knowing that he hadn't misheard that indirect little insult from Sakai. Was the other man pointing to rumors about himself and Katara? Was Sakai condemning his Fire Lord for his supposed "obsession" with the Waterbender girl? Insubordinate _bastard!_

Zuko's hands clenched even tighter. There were in a fucking war conference. This was no place to bring personal battles out into the light. It was no place to promote the spread of rumors, especially ones that were demeaning to the Fire Lord. It was pure rebellion. Sakai was pushing it, probably at the encouragement of his father. How was Zuko going to handle this?  
With control and diplomacy. However much he wanted to kill Sakai at that moment, causing his death was not going to help Zuko's standing in the eyes of his men. And Huang would most likely withdraw his support and wealth from the war.

Zuko quickly weighed it all in his mind. His pride again his country's need to win this war. Which one would he give up?

There was no choice of course. Zuko would do what was required of him.

The roomful of war generals and advisors were looking to him to see how he would take this. Well Zuko would show them he wasn't the same loudmouthed adolescent boy he had been four years ago.

Zuko inclined his head politely. "True, water is the one weakness of every Fire Bender, including everyone from the noblest Fire _Lord_ to the richest Fire citizen. But however weak they are, both are needed in order to win a war for our great country."

Huang's lips tightened as a small chuckle rumbled through the room. Zuko had handled it diplomatically, making a joke out of the rumors and still sending the smallest insult back towards Huang and Sakai. They would not be able to take offense at it, since Zuko had also included the fact they were needed in the same sentence. He had insulted them and complimented them at the same time. Zuko had turned the barb back on Sakai.

Commander Shen had a small genuine smile on his lips as he turned back to the map. "In order to neutralize this threat, we _will_ need to take the effort to send soldiers into the forest. It is a long, long way from the coastline, where our ships will dock. A month of sailing. Maybe another month or two of heaving marching. Then we'll have to find their exact location and move our men into position in order to begin a battle. Just the gathering of information and planning of strategy might take another month. Moving a gigantic force like our army over rugged terrain and through thick forests will not be easy. Supplies will need to be taken, which means wagons and horses and other pack animals will have to come with us. The enemy will have many chances for sabotage."

The room was silent and serious again. This was no joke.

"This will be the biggest war operation since the very beginning of the war." Shen said finally. "We need to disband this army before they get too strong, and destroy the Waterbenders. They have a natural advantage against us, and we need to take care of them before they become too powerful."

"We have another advantage." Zuko said, giving Shen an apologetic nod for interrupting. The commander graciously accepted it. "If you remember, when I returned from exile, I brought the Avatar back with me."

Low murmurs and raised eyebrows greeted Zuko's declaration.

"That's very good news." Admiral Gen said slowly. "I think most of us had forgotten about that."

"How would we turn the Avatar to our advantage though?" General Marzu wondered out loud.

"Just letting them know that we possess the famous Avatar will destroy half their army's hope." Iroh said dismissively. "And you know that if an army has no hope, they have lost the will to fight."

Zuko spoke up again. The minute he did, all other side conversations ceased. _I could get used to this_. "If you remember, I brought a second prisoner back with me. A Water Tribe girl who happens to be a very close friend of the Avatar's. He cares for her very much." He turned away from the voice in his head that was screaming dirty words at him. _You're using her again! You're using her against her own friend!_

Zuko had to do what he had to do for his country. He finally felt the burden of the entire nation press down on his shoulders. He wished he had the ruthlessness of his father. He wished he didn't care so much. He wished he weren't so goddamn _soft_ and _emotional_.

He could feel Iroh's eyes pin him questioningly. His uncle was the only who knew the exact truth about Katara. Zuko plowed on. "Sufficient… threats against the well-being of the Water girl might be enough to… convince the Avatar to our side of reasoning."

More nods and words all around. Several men eyed him, surprised. That statement of using threat and force had been such an Ozai-like sentence. They had underestimated their new Fire Lord. New-found respect shone in their faces.

Zuko sat back in his chair. Steel determination and mercilessness was what Fire Nation commanders respected. And that was what he had shown. With that statement, he had dispelled most of the rumors floating around the he might actually care for Katara. He had shown himself to be a man whose only goal was to rule the world. Not to gain the love of a woman.

He hadn't known it would hurt this much. This lying, this pretending, this betrayal, it all hurt. But that was what being Fire Lord was all about, right? Swallowing your own pain in order to stop the pain of your people. To give up the thing you most wanted in life, whether it was love or something else, in order to do what was required of you.

And for Zuko, that meant giving up Katara. He wasn't ready to make the choice. He didn't want to make the choice.

But it seemed as if Zuko the Fire Lord had already made the choice for Zuko the Man.

* * *

After being thrown out of the palace, and subsequently getting thrown out of Kotzut, Sokka had spent the last few weeks moping about in the countryside surrounding the capital city. He'd come upon Toraai, a smaller town not very far away from Kotzut. He lived there for several weeks, buying food at the marketplace with the money Zuko had given him. Every time he used it, Sokka felt like killing the Fire Lord. It hurt his pride to know that if it weren't for the money Zuko had given him, Sokka would have been starving and begging by now. 

But life was life, and Sokka had to keep on living it, even if he was all alone. Without Aang, and without his sister. Katara occupied majority of his thoughts. What was happening to her? What had _happened_ to her? And why hadn't she trust him enough to tell him what was going on? That hurt. It hurt that his own sister hadn't had enough faith in Sokka to trust him with information.

He spent awhile lamenting his fate and position in life. He had no idea where he was supposed to go now. His travels with Aang and Katara had been a wonderful adventure, and now that they were gone, Sokka had nothing left for him.

Until the day he stepped into a small, run-down restaurant on the outskirts of Toraai. After buying himself a quick lunch, he sat down at one of the back tables in a dark corner. He wasn't feeling like company.

A shadowy cloaked figure dropped down suddenly into the chair next to him.

"Hey, that's taken-" Sokka began, intent on driving the visitor off, before the stranger held up a hand.

"You've recently come from Kotzut, yes?" The voice was nondescript, but definitely male. It was non-threatening and non-aggressive. Just a polite inquiry.

Sokka was wary at first. "What's it to you?"

"You were in the palace, right?"

Now Sokka was intrigued. "How do you know?" He demanded.

"That doesn't matter." The stranger waved a hand dismissively.

Sokka was about to argue that it _did_ matter when the stranger dropped the bombshell.

"And you left your sister behind with the Fire Lord, didn't you?"

"I didn't _want_ to-" The Water warrior started, before realizing what the stranger had just said. "You- you know about Katara? You know about my _sister_?"

The stranger nodded, and Sokka could somehow feel that he was pleased. "I do."

"Is she alright? What is Zuko doing to her? Is Aang still there? How did you find me? What do you want from me? Who are you?" A rush of questions spilled from Sokka's mouth.

The stranger grinned in the shadows of his hood. "You can call me Zhao."

_Zhao_. Sokka thought. A common enough and simple enough name.

"As for what I want from you…" The stranger just offered Sokka a hand. "I'm here to begin a business relationship with you, Sokka. A business relationship that will benefit the both of us."

"How benefit?"

"Well, to start off, we both have the same enemy."

"Huh?"

"The Fire Lord, dear boy, the Fire Lord."

"You mean Zuko?"

"Exactly. He's done wrong to both of us, and if I'm right, you are seeking revenge for the honor of you sister, are you not?"

An old hatred ignited inside Sokka. Yes he wanted revenge against Zuko. He'd been looking for a way to get back at the Fire Lord, and here was an opportunity that had literally dropped in at his table. "Yes, I do. I want to kill him."

A low chuckle from Zhao. "We already have a common interest."

"What did he do to you?"

"It's not so much what he _did_…. Well maybe it is. He took something away from me. Something he doesn't deserve. Something that he received only because he happened to be born into the right family, by pure luck."

"And you want to get your… whatever it is back from Zuko?"

Another laugh. "Yes, the same as you want your sister back."

"I do want Katara back. I think he's done something to her." Sokka sounded unsure now. "I think… I mean, last I talked to her, she seemed almost like she supported him. I'm not even sure she wants to leave!" Sokka turned to Zhao, his new friend. "Isn't that crazy?"

"No, no, Sokka, don't blame your sister." The man said soothingly. "That Zuko probably has her brainwashed, or he's threatening her with something. Probably the life of the Avatar. It's definitely not her fault. He's got her under his control."

Sokka's resolve strengthened, and he sat up eagerly.

Zhao held out his hand again. "So, are we in this together or not?"

Sokka took only the slightest second to decide. He clasped his hand with Zhao's and shook heartily.

"I'm in."

* * *

The first thing Katara noticed when Zuko came back from his important meeting was that he refused to meet her eyes. 

"Did everything go okay?" She inquired.

"Fine." He answered her. "I told you that I had to promote Sakai, right?"

Katara grimaced. "Because his daddy has so much money?"

"Exactly. Well he was really the only problem today."

"He still hates me, doesn't he?"

"Of course."

"Tell him for me that the feeling's mutual."

Zuko finally cracked a grin at her. She smiled back. "I would, but I can't risk offending Father Huang anymore." His tone was sarcastic when he said Huang's name. "I might have pushed it too far today."

"What did he do to piss you off?"

"Insulted me. In front of a whole war council."

"Insulted me or you?"

"Me…. But you indirectly."

"Was it something about us… you know? The rumors?"

"Yeah."

"Those never bothered you. Ignore them, right?"

"Well I can't when he's insubordinately rebelling against me. If I back down, it'll just show the rest of the men that I'm weak and undeserving of being Fire Lord."

"Oh. So how'd you handle it?"

"The same way you handled Adia."

"I see." She smiled. "It must have gone well then."

He noticed her tray was still more than half-full. The water was gone, and the salad was gone. But everything else still remained. He made no comment on it. If she was feeling poorly or anything else, he'd notice. Maybe she just didn't eat all that much.

Zuko sat down after removing his outer armor. "And something else has come up."

"What?" She asked, not really worried about anything.

"War."

"Of course war. It's always war." Her tone was bitter and angry this time.

"Katara-"

"Just spit it out, will you?"

"There's a… problem we have to take care of." Why was he feeling so uncertain about telling her about this? Since when did she have the ability to make him feel guilty with just a few words? Since he'd started caring about what she thought.

"An enemy you have to defeat?"

"Yes."

"Who is it this time?"

"The Earth Kingdom." Zuko did not mention the Water Tribes joining the Earth Kingdom. She didn't need to worry about it. And he did not want to see her anger and hatred anymore.

"Oh. I thought you were already done conquering them."

Zuko ignored her sarcastic voice. "They're gathering together in a significant force. It's dangerous and we have to take care of it. Unfortunately, they're nowhere near the coastlines so we can't get them with our ships. We'll have to sail there and march into the forest."

"When do we leave?"

"You're not coming."

"_What_?" Her response was incredulous. "You're just going to leave me here?"

"Yes."

"I can escape, you know."

Zuko looked at her, a pained expression on his face. "Do you… still want to?" He wanted to know the answer, but he didn't want to hear it either. If she said no…

But Katara said nothing, just crossed her arms and glared at him. "I can escape if I want to. Your guards are nothing to me. If you're not here, I can leave easily."

"Don't make me lock you up in a cell, Katara."

"I'm not _making_ you do anything!"

"I'm taking the Avatar with me."

Her jaw dropped. "You're taking Aang? What for?"

"For the reason we capture him in the first place. To win this war."

"He's not going to work for you. He won't do what you say. He'll never compromise his ideas and his friends for _you_."

"Yes he will. When I tell him I have you back here at the castle, and at a single order from me, carried by a messenger back to the palace, bad things could happen to you. Painful things." Zuko said it, eyes locking with hers.

Katara felt like she couldn't breath for a moment. She felt like a fish out of water. His burning gold eyes held her still, stripping away everything she'd thought she'd known about him.

"If Aang cares anything for you, he'll do what I say."

She finally drew a shaking breath deep into her lungs. "And if he doesn't? If he doesn't care for me?" _The way you obviously don't now_.

"It won't come to that." It was the closest thing he came to admitting that he would never submit her to torture and pain. That he just couldn't do it.

Katara finally understood, and relaxed back onto the couch, relief flooding through her. "It's an empty threat, then."

"The only people who know that are you and me."

Katara stood up and walked over to the bed, slipping under the sheets. He followed her, letting all the strains of the day flow out from his mind.

Zuko continued. "The Avatar doesn't know that there is this-" He kissed her forehead. "And this-" He wrapped an arm around her, bringing her closer to his chest. "And this-" He breathed softly into her hair.

Katara stared up at the ceiling. _I shouldn't be letting him do this. I shouldn't let him trick Aang. I shouldn't let him use my friend. I shouldn't be falling in love with the enemy_. There were so many things she shouldn't be doing, and yet she did them. To keep from thinking about all her obligations, she engaged in meaningless conversation.  
"Have you ever fallen in love?" She said easily, as if she were asking about the weather.

"You mean… you mean before now?"

She swallowed hard. Did he consider himself in love now? Or was he just making empty promises, the way he had made empty threats? She wanted to believe him.

"Yes. Meaning before now."

"Not really. Being banished for four years from your homeland doesn't give you much time to get out and mingle. You?" He sounded hesitant.

She laughed softly. "I had a little crush when I was eleven."

"What was his name?" Zuko asked.

"Jealous?"

"No." He said defensively. "Just curious."

"I was eleven, Zuko. It doesn't matter. But his name was Juiko, and he was the cutest boy in my tribe. Dark hair, brown eyes, and whenever he smiled at me, my preteen heart just _melted_." Katara laughed at her own foolishness. "It was puppy love, and I know he saw me as just a friend. It was fun while it lasted though."

"Where is he now?"

"I'm… not sure. He must be nineteen now? Twenty? Hopefully he's still alive." A sad, twisted smile graced her face. That seemed to be the way she thought about most people from her old tribe. _Hopefully they are still alive_. With the current situation, you could never be sure. You could return home after several month's traveling and find that your whole family was dead. Zuko had returned to the Fire Nation to find his father dead. Katara wondered how Gran-Gran was doing. Was her beloved grandmother still alive?

Katara sighed and burrowed her head deeper into his shoulder. "You really won't let me go with you?"

"You really want to come?"

"If I said yes, would that change your mind?"

"No. But why do you want to come?"

"I don't want to stay here by myself. I don't know anyone else, Zuko. The minute you're gone, my protection is gone. I'll just be a stranger in a cage filled with snarling beasts who don't care for my well-being."

"Aren't you being just a little dramatic?"

"No. I'm a Waterbender, Zuko. Everybody here sees me as the enemy."

"They won't harm you. I'll make sure of it."

"You'll be an ocean away. Who knows how long the news of my death will take to reach you?"

"Stop being so dramatic! You _won't_ die." Zuko rolled his eyes.

"_You_ might die."

"Quite possible."

"You could just let Aang go and stop this war right now."

"Not possible."

"Yes it _is_ if you would just-"

"Well, maybe, but only in the sense that the war will end when _I_ win."

"I don't want you to die, but I don't want you to win either."

Zuko turned to look her straight in the face. "You don't support me? You don't wish me the best of luck and hope that I'll escape with minimal damage?"

"I don't support _either_ side now-"

"Well I've finally convinced you to abandon your original side. You're halfway to a full conversion by now."

"No. I don't support the Earth Kingdom side because I don't see how they can possibly win." She stated, matter-of-factly. "They'll be wasting their soldiers' lives. But I don't support you because I don't believe your take-over-the-world philosophy is _right_, Zuko. I might care for you, but I don't care for what you are doing."

"How do you define _right_, Katara? Who do you think you are? A god? That you are so powerful that you can dictate what is _right_ and what is _wrong_?"

"I know that killing people is wrong, Zuko!"

"What about killing a murderer, hm? Wouldn't you be helping the world by killing a killer?"

"That's different-"

"Why is it up to _you_ to determine what is wrong, and what is an exception to your almighty rules of life?"

"What about _you_? Aren't you pretending to be god just by thinking you can control the entire world? Why is it up to _you_ to determine what is right or wrong, good or evil?"

"I'm not playing god! I'm just doing what is required of me! What my country wants me to do!"

"Your _country_ doesn't want you to do anything, Zuko! Do you truly believe that your people want you to wage war on another country? Do you truly believe that they prefer fighting instead of peace?" She was almost pleading with him, trying to convince Zuko that there was another side to all of this violence.

But he refused to see. "It's been this way for over a century! If someone had a problem with it, they would have said something by now!"

"You _idiot_!" She hissed at him. "Don't you ever stop to think that they might be scared to object? They might be afraid of being called traitors and betrayers? That they don't speak up because they don't want to jeopardize their lives? You can't think that everyone in the Fire Nation honestly believes in all the same things you do! They're not clones of you, Zuko, they are individuals!"

"How would _you_ know anything about the Fire people, Katara? How could you possibly think that my people would be anything but supportive of-"

"Think about your soldiers!" Katara burst out at him. "Think about the families they are leaving behind. Don't you think that after a hundred, long, long years, a grandmother might begin to get tired of it all? Think about it. Her father died in war. Her brothers died fighting a faceless enemy. Her husband probably died right after they got married. She maybe managed to have two sons and a daughter. The minute her sons grow up, they are sent to the army. Maybe her daughter bears a few more children for her before her husband dies as well. Now there are grandchildren for this poor woman. And the minute _they_ reach maturity, they are sent into the army and then _they_ die!" She stared at him. "How could you possibly think that that woman might not begin to hate the war? It's taken everything away from her. Her family, her joy, and her life. She has nothing left except hatred for _you_ and all your predecessors!"

"A Fire Nation citizen should be glad to contribute whatever they can to their country's cause."

"You're just repeating stupid propaganda, Zuko, and you know it! Don't tell me you still believe all that shit. Because it's not true."

"You know nothing about my country."

"And then I suppose you know nothing about loss, if you are so uncaring about the lives of your countrymen, and the emotions of those that remain alive."

"_You know nothing!_" Zuko all but shouted at her. Because he was scared now. Because he was starting to see the truth in her words. That there was something beyond what he had learned since he was a mere toddler. That all the things his tutors and father had taught him (_"the soldiers are happy to die for their nation"_ and "_their families are nothing but proud to have sons who served in the army_") might not be so true after all. Katara was slowly and surely destroying the foundation of his world, all the things his life and throne and country were built upon. Just with a few simple words.

"I _do_ know." Katara stared up at him, her blue eyes as clear and clean as truth. "Because I know what it is like to lose my family to war."

"Do you know what it feels like to lose _yourself_ to a war?" He spat back bitterly. "Do you know what it's like to be trained for war from the minute you're born? To have everybody constantly remind you of your duty, your job, your _honor_? To have nothing else but _war war war_ consuming your life? It is because of war that I am alive, and it is because of war that I will die. It's inevitable, and unstoppable."

Katara was no long angry at him. "No, I don't. I'm not you, Zuko, and you can't blame me for not being you. I'm sorry."

He let out a long, shaky sigh. "I don't, I don't blame you. It's not your fault."

"It's not unstoppable. The war isn't an immortal enemy. It can be stopped."

"The war isn't my enemy. It is the weapon I am using to defeat my real enemy."

"You can end this war." Katara said firmly. "I believe you will be the one to stop the fighting."

He laughed, a short, coarse, hopeless laugh. "And what makes you put all your faith in me, Katara? It's just a waste of your trust." Zuko ended bitterly.

She laughed gently, and reached up with one hand to brush his scarred cheek. "Because you can do anything, remember? You are the Fire Lord. The most powerful man in the world. You can do anything, including stopping a war."

"It's not that easy, Katara-"

"I know it's not. But it's still possible."

Zuko felt like tearing his hair out in frustration. "It's _not_ possi-"

She placed one slim finger against his lips. "It's possible because I believe it is possible."

"You are unbelievably stubborn. Just because you say the sky is pink does not mean the sky is pink."

"Who says the sky isn't pink? Who says pink is not blue, and blue is not pink?"

"We are talking about a war, Katara, not pink skies."

Her eyes danced with laughter. "So you agree that the sky is pink?"

Zuko groaned in defeat. "How did you talk me into this?"

Katara just smiled. "If you love me, you will end this war." She didn't say it like a threat. She didn't say it like she was blackmailing him. She didn't say it like she was trying to convince him of something. She said it because she truly believed it.

"That's not fair-"

"Shhh."

* * *

The next week, Fire Lord Zuko and more than three hundred Fire ships left the harbor of Kotzut. Each ship carried over five hundred men. 

Zuko stood at the bow of his flagship with several generals and commanders flanking him. They all watched silently as the harbor disappeared from view. The sheer number of ships was massive. The metal behemoths floating on the blue waves stretched out from horizon to horizon. Because there were so many of them, and orders could not be shouted from ship to ship, a cage of carrier birds were kept on each ship.

These gray, non-descript, but incredibly speedy birds were used to communicate between the captains of each ship. Over a hundred were kept on the flagship for the use of Zuko and his top commanders. They could be sent back to Kotzut as well, in order to keep up with what was going on at home. The little rolls of paper were kept in small pouches tied to the birds' legs.

Katara had not been awake when Zuko left her that early morning. She slept on, unconcerned with the events around her.

In her dreams, she gave birth to a deformed child.

_Your son was born a twisted creature because a mixing of fire and water will only provide disastrous results_. The disapproving voice of an imaginary doctor echoed in her head. _There can never be a true union between the two elements. Nothing will ever come of your so-called "love". Just a hideous, deformed monster._

Katara screamed, both in her dream and out loud, as her faceless child was torn from her breast and thrown onto a hellish, burning fire. She tried to leap forward to save her baby, but something was holding her back. The flames beat at her face, and her body could not take the heat. She was not made for it. It felt like her heart was being ripped from her body and burned alive as well.

_Zuko!_ She shrieked, blubbering and weeping hysterically. _Zuko, save our child! SAVE YOUR SON!_

But Zuko wasn't there. He couldn't save their child, because he was too busy off in some faraway land, fighting a war that Katara could not understand. All she could understand was that Zuko had abandoned her and her baby in their moment of greatest need. _Why aren't you here? _She raged. _Why aren't you here to save me from the fire?_

She looked back at the flames, and saw that her baby was only a burned-out skeleton surrounded by dirty gray ashes now. His skull gleamed at her from the shadows. Guilt and sorrow overwhelmed her, and she felt that she could never, ever love again.

Katara woke up, tears streaming down her face, her mouth shouting words she did not understand.

Leaping from the bed, she ran to the windows, and saw the last few ships in the Fire fleet disappear over the horizon.

_He's gone_.

* * *

**A/N: **Zuko is maturing! Can you tell? He hasn't had a temper blow-out in forever. He's keeping control even when other people piss him off. Now for your questions: 

**When will Katara tell Zuko about the baby?**  
Patience is a virtue.

**Also, don't worry about what everyone else WANTS you to do, just be yourself! Write what you think should happen, not what would be most interesting!**  
You totally made my day, **Tora-Chan**. Thanks so much.

**I realized it at work yesterday Sokka's going to team up with Zhou, isn't he? Both have been kicked out of the city, both have VERY big reasons for getting back into the palace, and both are running around with unknown wherabouts.  
**This great reviewer, her name is **Masako Moonshade**, is probably most likely psychic. Because she's predicted a bunch of stuff happening and I think she is just really, really intelligent, or I'm just being way too predictable. Or she's psychic. Always a possibility. And you were thinking about this story at work? Heh. Hopefully I didn't distract you too much from your work. Pay attention! Or else your boss will fire you! Haha.

**Will Adia be a big part of the story/You're going to bring Adia back in, aren't you?**  
She might come back, depending on whether or not I want to bring her back. She is a real bitch, isn't she? Heh. I've always wanted to write someone like her.**  
**

**How does she come up with her nauseous spells, she can't probably have books on telling her how she do it, since she is always stuck in her room?**  
I'm not exactly sure what you mean. You don't need books to tell you how to throw up. It's a bodily function. And it's a natural thing that happens with every pregnancy because of the release of excess hormones.

**What is Zuko going to do with Aang? He is the avatar so he should have some uses instead of just imprisoned in a cage.**  
Do you really want me to tell you now? Or maybe you get to read about it later in future chapters. Yeah.

**Seeing as Angel by Sarah McLachlan is my favorite song, like, ever...I feel inclined to tell you that those lyrics "weep not for the memories" don't come from Angel. They come from I Will Remember You.**  
Congratulations to **Flame on the Water** for catching my mistake! You have sharp eyes, girl, yes you do (you caught my ugly chain mistake too!). I love Sarah McLachlan as well, but I was _listening_to Angel when I was writing the author's note about the lyrics from I Will Remember You, so I got the two songs switched around in my subconscious. Heh. Forgive me?

**I would love it if you could please read my story? It's called TITLE under MY NAME in the Avatar section.**  
I've gotten several questions like this one. I would love to offer constructive comments but seeing as a lot of people want me to read their stories, I can't possibly get around to every single one of you and _still_ write my own story. And I won't play favorites and review one person's but not another's. Sorry.

**Did you see the last Avatar where, um--someone rescues Aang?**  
YES, **AMBER**, YES I DID! THAT WAS SOOOOOO COOL! It gave me bunches of inspiration too… yay!

**what is Sokka up to?**  
This chapter answered your question.

**Disclaimer:** Nothing belongs to me. All original characters introduced (including Adia and her family) belong to me. Everything else belongs to the people who own Avatar. Don't sue, I have no money.


	18. Chapter 18: Separation

**Category:** Avatar: Last Airbender  
**Author: **RedNovember  
**Title:** The Hunter and the Prey  
**Pairing:** Zuko/Katara  
**Genre:** Romance/Action  
**Chapter:** 18  
**Rating:** T (PG-13) for now, but if I have to up it to M (or R) I will.  
**Disclaimer: **I do not own any part of this series. However, the fanfiction written, the plot contained and any original characters I write I do own.

**A/N:** I've never been pregnant before. In my life. Let me restate this again. I'VE NEVER BEEN PREGNANT BEFORE, AND I AM NOT PREGNANT CURRENTLY. Which means any mistakes concerning the progress of Katara's condition are mine and mine only. Tie me to a stake and burn me.

But for some of the details, I did a little research online at several sites. And my mom came in while I was looking at this "Pregnancy Schedule" and she was like… "What the hell are you looking at?" And what could I say? Research? "I'm expecting, Mom."? Well it worked out fine and we both laughed over it. Just thought you might like to know. Hah.

**A/N 2:** There were A LOT of questions from last chapter. They're all at the end, as usual. Except for ALAKSANDRA, who had SO MANY questions I just emailed her back instead of taking up too much space here. So check your inbox, Alaksandra.

**NOTE TO ASIRA: **I read your review, but could not find an email, in your profile or otherwise! So I'll just contact you here. The answer to your question: Yes, of course!

* * *

**Chapter 18: Separation**

For the first few days after Zuko left, Katara spent her time moping about in her room, trying not to think about the disturbing dream she'd had the morning of his departure. The grim skull of her dead child echoed in her mind, and she couldn't help but feel that this might be a premonition. She shook it away from her consciousness, and tried to think about something else.

_He didn't even say goodbye!_ Katara's was outraged reaction when she'd learned that the fleet had left before dawn. And then, _It was probably for the best_. Teary, awkward farewells probably weren't their fortes.

Slowly, she began to see how her staying behind in Kotzut could play out to her own advantage. Zuko would be gone for five months or more. A month of two of sailing, another month to march into the enemy encampment, and depending on how long it would take the fight the actual battles, Zuko wouldn't be coming back for awhile. The return trip would be just as long.

And that was if he returned at all.

Another worry to add to her already long list. _Is this how mother felt when father left for war?_ Katara wondered. _Is this how every woman feels when she doesn't know whether or not her loved one will be coming back_? Waiting was her biggest occupation now.

She tried reassuring herself. Zuko was the Fire Lord! How could she even think that he wouldn't have ample protection? He'd be surrounded by guards day and night, in order to ensure their Lord's safety. But things happened. Little things, like getting a rare disease, or getting thrown from the back of his horse. And assassinations. What if there was a traitor in the Fire camp? Poison? Spoiled food? A knife in the back? Many people wanted Zuko dead, Katara knew.

And it shamed her that she was no longer one of them. She was no longer an enemy of the Fire Nation. Because she loved the Fire Lord.If Zuko died out there, Katara slowly realized, that meant that this child in her belly was the next heir to the Fire Nation throne.

The mere idea caused her to fall short of breath.

Her next thought led her to laugh at herself. As if anyone in the Fire Nation would believe that this child was Zuko's! They would accuse her of being an enemy who was desperately trying to gain power over the Fire Nation by using the Fire Lord's fictional child as an excuse. She would be a power-hungry woman who wanted to rule the world through a tiny baby.

The would only believe her if Zuko were here to confirm it.

And even he didn't know she was pregnant.

_Maybe I should have told him before he left_. All her doubts and uncertainties came back in a rush. Then, _No. If I'm not ready for this child, then he's definitely not ready_. She could put it off until he came back from his little war campaign. Then all his troubles would be over and they could deal with this. They could always deal with it later.

Katara spent most of her days alone, with the occasional company provided by Kaz. Through several conversations, Katara slowly found out that the young servant boy lived in a tiny, rented, two-room house with his single mother and little sister. His father had died three years ago in –of course– the war. Kaz's mother worked two jobs, day and night. Kaz had no education, having worked in the palace since he was eight. The money went mostly to food, rent, and his little sister's education. She was their family's sole hope of getting out of poverty.

Kaz would join the army as soon as he was sixteen. He had limited Fire bending abilities, the common tricks like starting a fire and lighting a torch that anybody without training could achieve. His eyes glittering with hope and pride, he told Katara that once he was a soldier, he would send his paycheck home to his family.

Or as much of it as he could before he died of an arrow in the back. Katara felt anger rise as she heard the dreams and goals of the eleven-year-old boy.

She couldn't even attempt to discourage Kaz from joining the army. What other choices did he have? No one would be willing to teach an impoverished little boy a craftsman's trade. Kaz had no work experience aside from washing dishes and serving one woman her meals every day. The army required little other than a physical body and decent mind that could follow orders. Both of which Kaz had in eager possession.

It made her feel like a bitter old woman. And even worse, it made her feel helpless. Utterly pathetic. Here she was, beginning to swell with the child of her enemy (never mind that she loved him), unable to go anywhere outside the palace, and listening to the dreams of a preteen boy who would most likely die before the age of eighteen. And she could do nothing about it.

How had she gotten into this mess? Katara knew she was a better person than this. She wasn't meant to be a teenage mother. She was meant to do greater things than change diapers. She was meant to change the _world_.

She'd finally figured it out.

Love is blind. But it is not only blind. It is deaf, dumb, and fucking _stupid_ as well.

* * *

Aang awoke from a deep, dreamless sleep. His groggy mind registered the strange, unfamiliar aftertaste in his mouth. So he'd been drugged. All he remembered was eating his usual meal and then feeling unnaturally tired afterwards. They must have put something in the soup.

It was pitch black around him, and shuffling forward on his butt (his limbs were tied up) he encountered the cold metal bars of a cell. He felt the slow rocking motion of the deck underneath him. He was back on board a ship. Aang tried to move his hands, but they were chained together behind him, the same as his legs.

A soft sound of footsteps caught his ear and he swung his head around in the darkness, frantically searching for the origin. He could see absolutely nothing, and terror began to grip him.

"Who's there?" He called out, a tremor in his voice. "I know you're here! Don't try to hide from me."

A sudden flare of light almost made Aang cry out and wince in pain. He hadn't seen sunlight in what, a month? Maybe more? Just the occasional torchlight from a guard. He must have been pasty white by now. He didn't know if this was some kind of torture tactic, making him fear the light. He didn't _fear_ it, he just wasn't used to the brightness.

The burning flame was held in the palm of Zuko's hand. The light threw strange, malevolent shadows across the Fire Lord's face.

"Avatar." Zuko acknowledged him.

"Zuko." Aang replied slowly. "Where are we going now? Where are my friends?" He hadn't seen Sokka since that day, a month ago, when Sokka had been taken from the cell next to Aang's. And he hadn't seen Katara since the day they'd all arrived at the Fire Nation, and she'd finally realized he was there.

It was a long time to spend alone, without one's friends.

"Sokka has been let go." Zuko said unemotionally. "I have no idea where he is by now."

"And Katara?" Aang asked, a sinking feeling in his gut. If Sokka had been given his freedom, that meant Katara would only be kept for one purpose. Blackmail.

Aang's suspicions were confirmed when Zuko began to speak again. "Well, Avatar, her condition depends entirely on you."

Aang's mouth felt very, very dry. "You don't mean-"

"Yes I do mean what you think I mean." Zuko said easily. "Cooperate, and no harm will come to her. Refuse my orders, and…" His voice trailed off, leaving Aang's imagination to fill in the empty silence. And Aang's imagination was a wild one.

"You're bluffing." Aang said desperately.

"Would you like to test that theory?" Zuko's voice was cool and polite.

Aang swallowed. An image of Katara screaming in pain entered his mind. Aang tried to push it away, but knew now that if Zuko told him to get down on his knees and lick his boots clean, Aang would do it. It was not a matter of pride, arrogance, or honor anymore.

It was a matter of keeping Katara alive.

"Wh- what do I have to do?" Aang stammered. Here he was, the famous,

supposedly undefeatable Avatar, shaking like a leaf in fear of Zuko.

"As of now, nothing much." Zuko said. "Just don't escape. Don't try anything funny. Don't attempt to contact anyone."

"Okay. Okay."

"If you do misbehave," Zuko continued. "You won't be punished. You're much to valuable to be hurt."

"Wh- _what?_"

"But Katara will be punished. She will feel every little thing that you do wrong. Attempt to escape, and she'll have a small… accident. Attempt to sabotage our plans, and she'll bleed. Do you understand me?"

"You're evil!" Aang rasped out, trying to break free from his bonds. "You have no conscience, no respect for life! You aren't _human_!"

Zuko was silent for a moment, then spoke up again. "You're wrong. I am human. I am human in the fullest sense of the word. Animals live, sleep, eat, and die. Humans, on the other hand, have the ability to lie, cheat, steal, betray, and kill. They don't kill to survive, oh no. They kill for greed, lust, envy, and ambition."

Aang stared up at him, horrified.

"I'm much too _evil_ to be called an animal, Avatar. So therefore I must be human."

"No." Aang said clearly. He tried to be brave. "You are right to a certain point, Zuko. Humans can do evil things like lying and stealing. But that's not all that defines a person. We can choose which side belong to. The evil, or the good. Not only can we steal and kill, but we have the ability to smile, laugh, and _love_. You, Zuko, only belong to one side, the lying and killing side." Aang took a deep breath.

And the Avatar delivered his final verdict to the Fire Lord. "You cannot smile, you cannot laugh, you cannot _love_. That is what makes you inhuman, Zuko."

After Aang finished speaking, the dark of the ship was absolutely silent. He began to fear that he had made a bad decision. Had he angered the Fire Lord? Had he _misbehaved_, and would Katara now be punished for it? Terror for his Water bender friend bubbled up inside him, and he regretted saying his words.

Zuko extinguished the light, and Aang could see nothing. "You are quick to judge, Avatar."

Aang chose to keep his mouth shut.

"One day, your stupid assumptions will kill you. In fact, if you weren't so important to my war, then I might kill you for your idiotic judgments right this minute. Really, what makes you think you know anything about me?" Cold fury underlined Zuko's words.

The Avatar did the smart thing and did not say a word. He had already angered the Fire Lord, and if he did so again, Katara might very well get hurt.

"You know nothing." Zuko spat out at his silent captive. "_You know absolutely nothing about my humanity_."

Aang heard footsteps turn around and he saw a rectangle of light appear as Zuko opened the door to the deck above. Then it slammed shut, obliterating all light and hope, leaving Aang in complete darkness.

* * *

_I'm getting fat_.

Katara examined herself in the full mirror in the bathroom.

_I've been doing nothing since I got here except eat, sleep, and shit. No walking, no running, no traveling, no exercise! I just lie in bed and get fat_.

She ran her hand over her rounded abdomen, sighed, and returned to reality. A reality where she wasn't fat, but something else.

_I wish it was just fat. I could deal with fat easily._

Aside from her slightly raised abdomen, she was most likely losing weight. She'd been a slim girl originally, and when she'd started eating less in order to hide her nausea from Zuko, her body had taken nourishment from itself in order to support the child. Well now that Zuko was gone, she could eat as much and throw up as much as she wanted to.

It had been over two weeks since Zuko had left. Katara counted back. That was three and a half months. And as far as she knew, it was all developing nicely. For the two hundred and eighteenth time, Katara wished there was another woman here she could depend on and ask questions. Back in her tribe, her aunt on her mother's side had been the village midwife. Katara had been present at births before, knew how it worked, and had watched both successful labors and unsuccessful ones.

She'd also watched other pregnant women, friends of her mothers. She'd been allowed to place her hands on their enormous bellies and feel the kicks and life within. Katara did not know details, but she knew basically what happened. She knew nauseous spells were normal, and slight swelling was normal.

Other than what her memory told her, Katara was on her own.

She resumed dressing, flipping her wet hair out of her way. And as for a woman to be her confidante… the only woman she knew by name here was Adia.

And Katara was already on the 458,324th reason why not to tell Adia she was pregnant.

She folded her outer robe over herself like usual, noticing only a bit of tightness when she tied her waist with the cloth belt. If anyone looked closely, it would only seemed like she had a bit of extra fat. There went her waistline. Exiting the bathroom, she picked up the dark maroon-red cloak she'd found in one of Zuko's drawers last night. She drew it over her shoulders. Seeing as it was made for someone much taller and with broader shoulders than her, it conceal her body and her rounded figure quite well.

Katara had decided last night to finally venture outside. By herself for the first time. Well, she wouldn't technically be alone, for the guard standing outside her door would follow her everywhere, but she would be without friends. Without Zuko.

She needed the fresh air and the exercise. Or her bones would probably start to rot away. Turning the doorknob, she stepped outside, greeted by the stony expression of the guard. Even though she and Zuko had discussed this before he left, he'd still decided to leave her an escort.

_"I know it won't stop _you_ from escaping,"_ _Zuko had said. "But I'd feel better if someone was here."_

_She'd just rolled her eyes and shrugged._

_"Not to keep you in, Katara, but to keep others out."_

_Katara finally realized what he meant. "Oh. So you believe me when I say I think I'll be in danger?"_

_"There's always the possibility."_

Katara gave the soldier a curt nod before walking smoothly down the hallway and began to explore, the guard shadowing her footsteps. It was a bit queer at first to see people's reactions to her. The servants knew who she was, but not exactly how to deal with her. Just to be safe, most of them did the required curtsy or bow. After all, if she was the Fire Lord's important guest, that meant she probably had the same status as most of the nobles here.

After wandering for an hour through grand halls and up ornate staircases, Katara found the royal portrait room.

She entered, closing the door gently behind her. The guard waited outside. Looking up at the huge paintings hung on the walls, she felt almost like she was trespassing on sacred ground. Over a century of Fire Lords and their families stared down at her. It was an enormous room, with soft carpet underneath her feet and dark red wood-paneled walls. The portraits were framed with ornate gilt wood, carved in every style imaginable. The paintings themselves were done with great talent. Probably only the best artists in the country were given such an honorable commission to paint the royal family. Every sound made in the room was muffled and a bit of dust rose as Katara stepped across the carpet. She couldn't even hear her own footsteps.

At the end of the room was the first Fire Lord's portrait, painted in the oldest style. The most recent paintings were in the center of the room. That was where the current ruling family's pictures were hung. The Fire Lord's gigantic picture was in the middle, with two smaller portraits on each side.

Ozai's likeness stared grimly down at her from the central position, where the Fire Lord's portrait was hung. He was painted in ceremonial dress robes, holding a sword in one hand and a globe of fire in the other.

Katara studied his face. She'd never seen the famous Lord Ozai before. He was known for several things, not the least of which was his ruthlessness, ambition, and cruelty. His face was not one made for smiling. Harsh planes and angry, yellow eyes glared down at her. If he'd been alive, Ozai would probably have killed her if he'd found out an enemy Water bender was standing in front of his portrait. She knew he was dead, but looking at his painting made her feel he was still watching her, even though she'd never met the man. A gold plaque nailed to the wall underneath the portrait read _Fire Lord Ozai_.

They probably hadn't gotten around to changing the portraits yet. Zuko's picture should have been in the central position instead, and Ozai's moved to the long row of past Fire Lords. Zuko was the Fire Lord now.

Katara couldn't help but smile when she saw the smaller painting to the left of Ozai's portrait. It was a somber, younger Zuko that stared out at her. How old had he been at the time of this painting? Eleven? Twelve? His face was unmarked, and all of his hair was pulled up into his customary ponytail. Everything about this younger Zuko was… softer.

Although Katara could see the likeness between him and his father, there was a less harsher quality in Zuko's face. The twelve-year-old boy looked like he was trying to look serious, and Katara knew that Zuko had probably been wishing he could be outside instead of standing all stiff for his portrait. His eyes, although not as intense as his father's, were aged and matured. He had been training for his future as Fire Lord since the moment he was born. He would know the harsh realities of life even at a preteen age. She wished with all her heart that she could have known this less angry Zuko, back when he'd been just a child. A gold plaque nailed underneath Zuko's portrait read _Crown Prince Zuko_.

She touched his face with one finger, and it came away with a light coating of dust. _Where did you go?_ She asked the silent Zuko-child. _What happened to you? How did you get that scar? What made you grow up so fast?_

The last portrait, the one placed to the right of Ozai's, was surprisingly covered. Katara looked at it quizzically. She could see the shape of a wooden frame outlined by the gray, dusty cloth that had been carelessly thrown over the painting. Of all three portraits, only Ozai's and Zuko's were able to be seen. How come the third had been covered?

Because someone hadn't wanted to look at it. Katara didn't know whether it was Ozai or Zuko. Knowing she would probably be punished if she were found out, Katara lifted one corner of the dirty cloth and yanked it off, a flurry of dust coming down around her. She sneezed once, and then looked up.

So this was where Zuko had received the other half of his genes. The Lady Lian gazed down at Katara, a soft smile on her lips. She was the only one who looked happy in the trio of family portraits.

_Were you really happy?_ Katara wondered as she stared up at Zuko's mother. _Were you really happy with your husband and your son?_ Had Lian supported everything her husband did? Had she loved her family unconditionally? Had she chosen to marry Ozai? Why hadn't she had any other children?

The Lady was dressed in a flattering red-gold dress, her black hair caught up in a beautiful bun with several wispy strands hanging out. She was holding a fan in one hand, and the other rested on the back of an elegant chair.

Her eyes were blue.

Katara examined the painting closely. It wasn't _rare_ to have blue eyes or anything. Coloring was not strictly reserved for certain races. Although most Water Tribe people had blue eyes, brown wasn't out of the question. She didn't know much about Fire bender ethnicity, but from what she'd seen on her stay, flame-yellow was the predominant color. How odd that Zuko's mother had had blue eyes. She read the name on the plaque underneath the picture. _Lady Lian_.

Stepping back, she examined all three members of the royal family again. Two of them were deceased, and Zuko was away.

Making her decision, she reached up on her tiptoes and twisted at the bottom of the frame on Ozai's portrait. With a little bit of grunting and shoving, she managed to pull if off the wall. She almost reeled back at the sheer weight of it, and just barely managed to keep it from slamming into the ground.

Panting slightly, she set the bottom edge of the frame on the ground, and leaned it against the wall front-first so that Ozai's face could not be seen.

She brushed her hands off, and reached for Zuko's child portrait, and moved it up to where Ozai's had been originally. It looked a bit ridiculous, such a small picture where a large painting should have hung. Well Zuko could get a new one painted when he came back.

Katara decided to leave Lady Lian's portrait where it hung. It deserved to see more light for a little bit more time, since she'd so recently unveiled it. And besides, Zuko had no wife or child to hang up next to his own portrait.

Turning away to leave, her work finished, Katara tried to quell the stupid idea that had suddenly arisen in her mind.

_I don't want to be up there! I don't want my picture to replace Lady Lian's_. She convinced herself.

Her resolve hardened. _And if I can help it, my child will never be raised in the Fire bender ways. My child will not be taught to kill, to murder. He won't grow up thinking that war is the only way of life. He will be raised with peace, if I have any say in it._

* * *

When Katara got back to her room, a gray carrier bird was tapping on her window. A feeling of anticipation rose inside her, and she hurried to let in the messenger bird. Zuko had unlocked all the windows for her before he left. She tried not to think about how much he was trusting her by giving her so much freedom.

The bird fluttered in, and she caught it gently to remove the pouch hanging loosely from its leg. After she had what she wanted, she let the bird go. It would fly down to the aviary where the messenger birds were kept when they weren't on the job.

She sat down at the table, hands almost shaking as she took the rolled-up paper out from it's leather covering. Katara smoothed it out, and began to read:

_Katara-_

_By the time this letter reaches you, we'll be well beyond Fire Nation borders. I've never written a letter for purposes other than issuing orders and communicating with war officers. So forgive me if I say the wrong things or my language is awkward. _

_I hope you're well. It's been just fine here. We've a few more weeks of sailing before we reach Earth Kingdom land._

_Iroh sends his greetings. I quote his exact words, "Don't miss my handsome face too much, Katara! We'll be back together as soon as my idiot nephew whips these unruly rebels into their proper places. Until we meet again!"_

_Don't listen to him if you don't want to._

_The Avatar is fine. I promise I am treating him well, but only because I know you worry about him. He is concerned for your well-being. I'm sorry, but I haven't reassured him of anything. I need him scared, Katara. I know you understand my methods, but you still don't agree with me. That's fine._

_Reply if you want to. It's been pretty uneventful around here. War councils get monotonous after awhile._

_I miss you._

_-Zuko_

_(This is where I usually add all my fancy titles and signatures and stamps and seals but I know you don't care about those so I'll just not waste time.)_

Katara was surprised when a single tear dripped down from her fact onto the paper, blurring out Zuko's name. Why was she _crying_? There was nothing to cry _about_. It was just a few simple words on a piece of paper. _Foolish girl._ She scolded herself. _You're absolutely pathetic._

Reading over the letter again, she smiled to herself as she mentally translated some of Zuko's lines from Zuko-speech to normal-speech.

_I've never written letters for purposes other than issuing orders… forgive me if my language is awkward…_ really meant:  
I'm fucking nervous and I have no idea what I'm saying.

_Don't listen to him if you don't want to_… translated to:  
Ignore the geezer. I love my uncle, I really do, but we can both agree that he's a bit out of his mind at times.

_I know you understand my methods but you still don't agree with me. That's fine._  
I need your support but I suppose I can survive without it.

_Reply if you want to. It's been pretty uneventful around here…_actually meant:  
If you don't write back soon, I'll die of fucking boredom.

_I miss you…_  
…I love you.

Now Katara wasn't surprised to find herself crying. She pulled out a sheet of paper from a desk drawer and began to form her own reply. She'd send it by bird when she was finished.

* * *

**A/N:** The whole Zuko writing a letter thing I totally winged it. I have no idea how he would really write a letter in the show so… made it up as I went along. Something new for you all:

**Bloopers/Outtakes:**

(This refers to… "Katara was already on the 458,324th reason why not to tell Adia she was pregnant." From above, this chapter.)

Katara breaks the important news to… not Zuko… not Aang… but Adia.

_**Katara:** I'm pregnant. Will you help me by being my midwife?  
**Adia: **WHAT?  
**Katara:** I'm pregnant with Zuko's child. Please guide me through labor.  
**Adia:** COME AGAIN, BITCH!  
**Katara:** Do I need to spell it out for you? Me and Zuko had s-e-x without a c-o-n-d-o-m, I got p-r-e-g-g-e-r-s, and now-  
**Adia:** screams in rage and leaps on Katara I'm going to tear your fugly eyes out, whore! ARRRGHHHH I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ALL MINE! Watch my mad clawing skills! You'll be bald by the time I'm done with you!_

Yeah. I sort of had to get that out of my system. Sorry… on to the Q&A:

**I just have a question about the character list... What are they excatly and were are they going to be posted? -- princezuko'sgirl/katara**  
Um. What is a character list? I don't think I've ever personally mentioned that before.

**How many anime have you seen? What's your favorite? Do you have any pets?**  
Your review made me laugh and brightened my day, **Patricia, **thanks! I'm not a die-hard anime freak, but I've seen and read quite a few. My favorites… uh probably Ayashi No Ceres, Rurouni Kenshin/Samurai X, Hanakimi, His and Her Circumstances, Naruto… etc. And yes, **Patricia**, I have one cat who I call Spazzoid, since he's insane.

**The sad part about the recent episode... is I was going "Huh? Zhao was exiled... he can't be requesting those archers. And, hey! Isn't Ozai dead?" This fit lasted awhile until I realized I was confusing this story with the actual show.** **Yeah.**  
LMAO! I can't believe you, **Mystikat!** But I am flattered, really. Your review made me laugh. Thanks so much!

**I love this! How many more chapters do you think there will be?**  
This was from **Divine-Red-Crayon.** I'm guessing 21 chapters at this point, and if I include an epilogue, that'll be 22. It's going to end soon, that's all I'm saying.

**Thank You to:** The anonymous reviewer **Whomever**. This person really encouraged me to keep writing stuff for you fans. It's people like them who make it all worthwhile. And all the other reviewers who've been with me since the beginning.


	19. Chapter 19: Fragments

**Chapter 19: Fragments  
**

Zuko- 

_Don't worry, I'm still alive. The guard you left behind has been doing a pretty good job. I haven't seen anyone else except for the usual servants and the soldiers outside my room. If you think it's boring where you are, try living in my place. Stop whining! You're in the middle of commanding an army that's going to war- look lively! _

_I'm just joking, you know. Today I went exploring and I found something very interesting. The portrait room. You know what I'm talking about, right? The room with all the huge paintings of all the ex-Fire Lords and the current Fire Lord?_

_Except your father's picture was where your picture was supposed to be. I guess they haven't had time to change it around. So I did it for them. I used your childhood portrait though. You don't have a new one yet. You were a pretty cute kid, Zuko. What happened to you? Not just the scar. But everything else as well._

_And I saw your mother's portrait. She was very beautiful, Zuko. Why did someone cover up her picture like that? Was that you? Or your father? You look like both your parents. That's good._

_Tell your uncle that I sit on my balcony window and pine away for him every single day. Maybe that will cheer him up, hm?_

_As for Aang… I know you're not beating him up or anything. But treating him well isn't just a physical thing. He's probably going crazy with worry by now, especially if you threatened him with my health. I know you probably won't do this, but PLEASE tell him I'm doing okay. PLEASE. Just for now. You can add your own little blackmail at the end, you know, "She's doing fine now but if you don't keep quiet and stay in your cell blahblahblah…" but just tell him that I'm still alive and breathing._

_He'd do the same for you if your situations were reversed._

_I miss you too._

_-Katara_

_(I have no titles or fancy signatures to add so I guess I'll just not waste my time either.)_

Before she could change her mind or crumple up the paper, Katara put on her cloak and raced down to the aviary and sent the letter off to Zuko. It'd get to him in a few days time. Maybe a week, depending on his location. The bird would know where to find him.

* * *

Sokka had expected Zhao to whip up an army in no time and charge into the palace at Kotzut, killing all who stood in their way until they reached Zuko and Katara. Then they'd kill the Fire Lord and rescue his sister. 

Alas, things were never perfect in Sokka's world. Zhao spent majority of his time writing and sending letters.

"What are all these letters _for_?" Sokka snapped irritably as he watched Zhao's pen scribble quickly over a piece of paper. They were currently hiding in an abandoned shack in the outskirts of Toraai.

"_Contacts_, my dear boy." Zhao said in a patronizing tone. "I must contact all my old allies, the people who owe me favors, and people I can take favors from. How else do you think we're going to make it into the palace? We're both wanted men." Zhao replied smoothly. "And if I can conjure up some loyal men for an army along the way, well that's just a plus."

Sokka grumbled. He was a man of action, not cunning. Planning and strategizing and manipulating was Zhao's thing. He hadn't become an Admiral of the Fire Nation by simpering to his superiors. Although sucking up did help sometimes, wit and lies and sometimes flat-out head-on conflict was the only way to make it to the top, and keep at the top.

But once you get to the top, it's a long, long fall to the bottom. And Zhao knew it. He was no longer Admiral of anything, and his brief, one-month stint as Fire Lord was over. He was starting from scratch all over again. Except for a few men in high positions who were also disgruntled at Zuko's quick ascension to the throne, he was all alone.

He would have to use his resources to the fullest. And it didn't hurt that one of his allies was Huang, an incredibly wealthy man who despised Zuko with all his being. Huang had several friends in good places as well, people who wanted his money or needed to pay off a debt to him.

And not the least of which was Huang's son, Officer Sakai, who had recently been promoted to _Commander_ Sakai.

Zhao's eyes narrowed as he read his most recent letter.

Sokka noticed. "What is it?"

"Big news. Zuko is moving an entire fleet of 300 ships out of the harbor. He's already left Kotzut. He's not in the palace anymore."

"Where are they going?"

"To take care of a growing rebellion in the Earth Kingdom. Apparently something very troublesome. Huang and Sakai are going with him, especially since Sakai is a commander now." Zhao allowed a small frown to come over his face. He'd told Sokka earlier about how the wealthy father and military son were their greatest secret allies, especially since they were both so close to the Fire Lord.

"So Zuko's not even in the palace anymore?"

"Nope."

"Do you think he took Katara with him?"

Zhao smoothly folded up the letter which had brought the important news, and slipped it into a pocket. "My sources say he did."

Even though the aforementioned source had clearly stated the Lord Zuko had left his pet Water bender behind in the palace. For what reasons, no one knew.

But Sokka didn't have to know that. The objectives had changed. It Zhao told Sokka that his sister was still in Kotzut,_ without_ the presence of Lord Zuko, that hotheaded teenager would be off in a second to mount a pitiful rescue operation for his sister. And Zhao needed the boy with him when he followed after Zuko. The only way Sokka would go after the fleet with Zhao was if he believed his precious sister was on a ship as well. And Zhao needed Sokka.

Someone would have to take the blame when Zhao's plan came to fruition.

And who better than a poor, deranged little Water Tribe boy who was mad with grief over the fact that Lord Zuko (hopefully dead by that time) had dishonored his sister? Sokka would be the perfect excuse to mount an assassination attempt against Zuko. And Zhao didn't even have to _convince_ the boy to kill Zuko. Sokka already believed the only way to get his sister back was to kill the Fire Lord. That boy and his deluded ideas would gladly take the blame for the death of Zuko.

Zhao, on the other hand, would play the part of the mourning, retired Admiral who reluctantly took the throne because Zuko had no child for an heir.

He felt like cackling in glee at his own pure genius.

But that would have totally ruined the image of refined, cultured gentility that he was trying to cultivate in front of the Water Tribe boy.

Zhao merely gave Sokka another glance.

"The Fire Lord took the Avatar with him as well."

"_Aang's_ with him? Aang would never fight the war for Zuko."

"That's probably what your sister is for. Blackmail."

"Oh. And vice versa, right?"

"Right." Zuko said, smiling in a friendly manner. "And now that things are moving… we're going to start moving as well."

"We gonna follow Zuko?"

"Exactly. We leave tonight for Kotzut harbor, and we'll find a trading ship of some sort to get us to the Earth Kingdom."

"But aren't we banned from Kotzut? They'll recognize us!"

"Who said we're going to go as Zhao and Sokka? We're going to go as Dotsu and Urek, a father and son duo who need to visit an ailing relative in the Earth Kingdom. Understand?"

"Got it."

* * *

Commander Sakai locked the door to his tiny office on the flagship of the fleet traveling to the Earth Kingdom. His father sat impatiently on the one chair, tapping his foot. 

"Did you receive the letter from Admiral Zhao yet?"

Sakai nodded and moved to unlock one of his desk drawers, taking out a folded paper. Huang snatched it from his son and read over it eagerly. Sakai sat silently on the edge of the desk. He'd already read it.

_H and S –_

_Why exactly did the FL's girlfriend get left behind at the castle? It's important._

_Have you seen the Avatar yet?_

_We'll be joining you in a few weeks. There is nothing left for us to do in Toraai anymore, and our target has left the castle._

_I do have a plan._

_- Z_

Huang looked up at his son. "Admiral Zhao is coming _here_?"

"Apparently so. Zuko's no long in Kotzut, and Zhao knows we're not going to risk our family name by actually lifting a hand against Zuko here. We just provide the information. He's going to have to kill Zuko himself."

Huang raised one eye brow. "You know Zhao was never one to get his hands dirty. If not us, he'll get someone else to do it for him."

"That's probably what he's referring to when he says '_we'll_ be joining you' and 'there's nothing left for _us_ to do in Toraai'."

"Who is he bringing?"

"No idea. Better be someone good. If Zhao screws up… we're all dead."

"Alright. Reply then."

Sakai took out another sheet of paper and began his letter.

_Z –_

_No idea why the girl is still in Kotzut._

_Yes the Avatar is here. Kept under tight guard though._

_Who are you bringing with you?_

_- H and S_

* * *

Zuko spent the morning reading Katara's reply and writing back his own letter. He must have begun five different letters, each time cursing himself for not having the intelligence to write about something important and relevant. 

Finally he came up with a satisfactory reply to Katara, and he climbed the stairs towards the upper deck of the ship, where he could use a bird to fly a message back to Kotzut. Before he reached the bird cage, he caught sight of Sakai who was tying a message onto his own bird's leg. Zuko kept his footsteps light and quiet.

Huang was present as well, and the two were arguing about something under their voices. Zuko caught the words _dangerous_ and_ Admiral_ in the same sentence from Sakai.

And Zuko knew only knew one person who could be described with those two words ("Admiral" and "dangerous") in one breath.

Zuko crept closer, but before he could stop himself, accidentally slipped on a piece of wet rope lying around on deck and cursed out loud.

Sakai and Huang whipped around simultaneously to stare at him in horror before composing themselves. They all but tripped over each other in their hurry to bow respectfully. Behind his back, Sakai threw the bird into the air and it was winging off into the clouds before Zuko had a chance to call it back and read the message tied to its leg.

"Good morning, my Lord!" Sakai said, flustered. "What brings you up here on this fine day?"

Zuko, stony gaze on his face, held up his letter with one hand. "Mail." The letter in his hand fluttered slightly in the wind, and the black writing was faintly visible through the white paper. Zuko didn't miss it when Huang's eyes zeroed in on the letter, intent on trying to read some of it through opaque material, and Zuko casually stuff it back into his armor.

"What brings you two up here this morning?" Zuko asked, sauntering over to the bird cage.

"Enjoying the good weather!" said Huang at the exact same time Sakai all but blurted, "Mailing our own correspondence!"

They stopped, and stared at each other angrily.

Zuko didn't say anything, but inside crowed gleefully at having caught them in their own game. He opened the hatch to the bird cage and gently lifted out one gray pigeon, rolling his letter up and slipping it into the pouch on its leg.

"Maybe you were enjoying the weather while sending your mail at the same time." Zuko said diplomatically.

Sakai and Huang continued to glare at each other, before Huang broke the gaze and nodded stiffly at Zuko. "Yes, my Lord. That's exactly what we were doing."

Zuko threw the bird into the air, silently wishing it a swift passage back to Katara. He turned to face the other two men, neutral mask on again. How he wished he could strangle both of them until they told him who the letter had been sent to, and what its contents were. The possibility that Sakai and Huang could be spying for Zhao irked Zuko. He knew that both men didn't approve of him being Fire Lord, but to go to such lengths as to ally themselves with Zuko's mortal enemy? Zhao wanted him dead, Zuko knew. Zhao wanted the throne of the Fire Nation. Would Sakai and Huang help him gain it in order to get rid of Zuko? A part of him said that his men were much more loyal than that. But Zuko knew that everything was possible. Including betrayal.

But Zuko had no real proof that he could use in order to slap an arrest on Sakai and Huang for treason. The offending letter had escaped him, and was now tied to the leg of a bird that might very well be flying across the ocean back to Zhao. Zuko could do nothing about it, at least not until Sakai and Huang made another move that Zuko could catch.

Besides, Zuko told himself, he might be making a mountain out of a molehill. What if Sakai and Huang were really just sending mail to an old friend back in Kotzut? What if they had no plans for his murder laid out in their minds? What if Zuko was just being completely and utterly paranoid?

Everything was possible. Including Sakai and Huang's betrayal, and Zuko's own paranoia.

_Damn it all._ Zuko thought. _Even if they were planning to kill me, I have nothing for proof except my own suspicions._

He gave the two men a curt nod and goodbye before turning his back on them and leaving to find some more enjoyable company. Where was Iroh, anyways? The old man had been missing this entire trip. Was he on another ship?

Behind Zuko, Sakai and Huang both let out a sigh of collective relief.

"Stupid idiot!" Huang slapped his son on the arm. "Let me do the talking next time! He almost found us out!"

Sakai rubbed his arm absentmindedly as he thought of other things. "How much do you think he heard?"

"Not enough to arrest us, that's for sure." Huang snapped.

"Thank goodness."

"We'll keep quiet for awhile. Zhao can survive without our information for a few weeks at least. I'm more concerned about keeping our necks intact than helping that ex-Admiral plan a rebellion."

"Good idea."

* * *

"Good morning!" Kaz said cheerfully as he brought the breakfast tray inside. "How are you-" 

The tray dropped from his hands and shattered as it hit the ground. Bowls and plates broke in a clatter, food and soup spilled everywhere, and silverware rang against the marble in a clear, surprised tinkle.

Katara turned to see Kaz gaping open-mouthed at her, eyes wide open.

Her mouth set in a firm line, and she folded her hands over her rounded abdomen. Most mornings she kept on the red, billowing cloak that hid her developing figure. Today she'd purposefully left it off.

She stared defiantly at Kaz, the young boy who reminded her so much of the child Aang could have been if he hadn't been burdened with all his tiring responsibilities as Avatar. It was time Kaz learned the truth. He was her only friend here since Zuko had left two months ago, and if he abandoned her after this revelation, then what could she do? Fall over and cry? Katara wasn't in the habit of hiding things from people.

Well. Except for hiding this bit of information from Zuko.

Kaz seemed to realize he was staring, and averted his eyes, bending down to pick up the mess he'd made. "I'm so sorry, my Lady, I didn't meant to drop it, I mean I'll get you another breakfast and really don't worry it's all my fault…" He rattled on and on in a nervous, flustered voice.

Katara stepped closer to him and placed one hand on his shaking shoulder. "It's really okay, Kaz." She laughed, a nervous and uncertain laugh. "I guess I should have warned you or something before, right?"

He shook his head. "No, you're right. It's okay. I was just surprised. I mean… I didn't even suspect it!" His eyes widened in realization. "So _that's_ why you wouldn't even some of the food sometimes."

Katara nodded, finally relaxing. She watched as Kaz picked up the remainder of the silverware and began wiping up the floor with several napkins. Normally she would be down on the floor helping him, but bending over was more of a chore now than it had used to be. Kaz seemed to understand and waved her over towards the sofa. She settled down gratefully, glad to have pressure off her feet.

Kaz looked up at her in the middle of picking up piece of a broken plate. "Is it… Is it the Fire Lord's?"

Katara regarded him silently for a moment. She wasn't angry with him for asking. Of course he wanted to know who the father was. "Yes it is."

"Do you know what that means?"

Katara wanted to laugh and shake the boy with an insane madness. Of course she did. Of course she knew what this child meant. She'd had five months to think about every single consequence and result that would come from the birth of this infant. She'd gone over every single possibility, all the way from suicide to happiness. Nothing seemed real. Nothing seemed _possible_.

But it was all very real, and all very possible. She only had to look at her swelled abdomen to realize that.

Kaz continued to talk. "You know people are talking about it all being the Fire _Empire_ now. It's not just our Nation. All our Fire Lords and all the warfare from a century ago to the present has built up so many conquests that we aren't just a nation anymore. We are an empire, or so they say." He swabbed at the marble floor with a washcloth.

"They say that if Lord Zuko completes all of his ancestors' work, things will come to a conclusion. The war will end because the Fire people will rule the world. All Lord Zuko has to do is finish destroying the last of the rebellion and then he will be known as Emperor Zuko."

Katara sat in dense silence.

"That would make your…" Kaz faltered. "That would make your child the Crown Prince or Princess of the Fire Empire. And if the future Emperor Zuko marries you… that would make you not Lady Katara, but _Empress_ Katara."

She could just imagine it, in a sort of blurred insanity inside her mind. The minute the world found out she'd borne Zuko a child and was now Empress of the Fire Empire, things would explode. Not only was she a barbarian from an enemy nation, but she had no wealth, had no prestige, and her family had no…

Her family. The second the Southern Water Tribe found out she was the wife of the detested conqueror Zuko, assassins would be hired from every corner of the Earth and that foolish Empress Katara would be a dead woman. Her family would never stand for the shame of having lost a daughter to the enemy. She would be called a whore, someone who sold her body for the power and position Zuko could bring her.

Katara was an idiot to think there was a happily-ever-after for her.

"There will be no Empress Katara, Kaz." She said, biting out the words. "Because there will be no future for Katara, the woman who loves the Fire Lord. It's a _stupid_ idea to think that I could ever be anything more than someone who made a regrettable mistake in her life." She sounded angry and bitter even to herself.  
"The best I could ever hope for is giving birth to my child and being allowed to keep him or her with me. Zuko probably won't recognize the baby as his legitimate heir, because we were never married."

Kaz cut in, hope in his eyes. "But maybe the Lord Zuko _will_ marry you as soon as he comes back-"

"He won't." Katara cut him off. "He won't marry me, because we both know it could never happen." _Even though I desperately want everything that we could possibly have_.

"But… but _why_?"

"Because he'll be the _Emperor_ of the _world_, Kaz! A man like him doesn't just up and marry a poor, no-name girl from some backwards village that rebelled against the Fire Nation in the war. He has to marry a woman who will bring him power and honor. I will give him nothing but trouble." _And love._

_But love counts for nothing in this world_.

And she already knew that. She was just saying it out loud to convince herself that it was, in reality, the truth.

Kaz looked like he was about to cry. She wondered what her own expression was.

"There is no future for Zuko and I." She said bleakly. "The best I can hope for is that I escape from this all with my life and my baby. And maybe, just maybe my family and my tribe will accept me back, even with a child who has an unknown father."

Kaz looked down at the mess he'd made and kept cleaning quietly. Silence descended upon them both.

After awhile, when Kaz had left to take the remains of her ruined breakfast back down to the kitchen and to fetch a new meal, Katara began to regret her outburst.

_You didn't have to unload all your troubles on him!_ She scolded herself wearily. _He has nothing to do with all this. He's just an innocent bystander. You are the one who got yourself into this mess, and you are going to see it to the end. Because there is nothing else you can do. Don't get Kaz involved. Don't bring him down with you. He has a future, even if it has to be a short one in the army. Maybe by the time Zuko has conquered the world, boys won't be needed to fill up the spaces dead soldiers leave behind. Maybe Kaz will have a chance._

Kaz came back a couple minutes later bearing a new tray. He set it down on the table in front of Katara, and sat in a chair to wait for her to finish. They usually had lively conversations during this time, but neither of them really felt in the mood. The silence slowly grew to be unbearable and Katara began to chat to fill up the time.

"I only wish I knew someone who could help me. You know, someone I could ask questions or make sure it's all going okay." She said, musing quietly to herself.

Kaz stopped suddenly. "I think I mentioned to you before…" He trailed off uncertainly, then started again. "My mother is pregnant too. She's due in a month."

Katara's head snapped around, and she felt like slapping herself. "Of course! How could I forget? I hope she's doing well."

Kaz smiled and shook his head. "Thank you, my lady, but that's not what I meant. I mean, if you wanted, you could come to my house and see if… if you have any questions to ask my mother." A red flush crept up the side of his neck. "But if you'd rather not leave the palace, I mean, that's fine, because I live pretty far away from here in a… a poorer district and if you're tired I guess you wouldn't…"

Katara noticed bemusedly that the servant boy had a habit of stammering and ranting when he got nervous. "Actually, Kaz, I'd like that very much." Her spirits rose at the thought of finally leaving this room and getting the advice of another woman.

"Is tonight okay? How are you going to get out of the palace?"

"I'll find a way."

* * *

That night, Katara met a nervous Kaz at the servants' entrance at the back of the castle. 

"Does he have to come?" Kaz pointed at Katara's stony-faced bodyguard.

"Yes." Katara said. "Zuko said I could leave, but I have to bring him." She jerked a thumb at the silent soldier standing close behind her.

"Alright." Kaz said uncertainly. "Hopefully he won't attract too much attention."

Kaz turned and lead them through a side gate out onto a quiet street. Katara had never been in the streets of Kotzut before. The last time she'd been outside the palace grounds was when they'd first arrived at the city, and she'd been lead into the castle believing something that turned out to be a lie.

"It's sort of a long walk to my home." Kaz said quietly as they dodged the remnants of the day market. Vendors were pulling down shutters and closing shop before going home. "If you get tired, just tell me, okay?"

Katara nodded, but didn't say anything. She could walk all the way to Kaz's place. The twelve-year-old boy did it every single morning when he came to work at the palace, and every single night when he went home. She wouldn't be the one to slow the tiny group down.

She grimaced when her back began to ache after a few minutes of quick walking. Why hadn't anyone told her that pregnancy was so tiring? Hopefully she'd make it to Kaz's house without any further incident that night.

* * *

Rows and rows of army tents stretched along the beachfront, all with red Fire Nation flags fluttering from their poles. The men slept six to a tent, and the commanders and admirals and other important officials slept in larger, single tents. Zuko's own had a multitude of flags crowning the top of his tent poles, and could easily have fit twenty soldiers comfortably. 

But he wasn't overly concerned about his living quarters. He was just glad to be off the constantly moving ocean and on dry, solid land again.

_You love land so much you should have been born an Earth bender!_ His uncle Iroh used to laugh.

Zuko pushed the absent thought away. He would never be anything other than a Fire bender. It was his element.

Zuko suppressed a sigh as he glanced at the mound of important-looking papers piled high on his portable desk. The beach was soft under his feet, several grains of sand escaping through the hastily thrown rugs and carpets that covered the ground. He was currently sitting in the public, business section of his large tent; the private sleeping portion was curtained off in the back.

Not that he would be getting much sleep in the first place. A steady stream of men flowed in and out of the open door flaps, shouting orders and asking questions and demanding things from their fellow officers. It was complete chaos.

"-The sentries aren't even set up yet on the west perimeter-"

"-I must find Admiral Gen-"

"-where is the cook tent located? My men need feeding, you know-"

"-there _is_ no perimeter, men are still coming off the ships, tents are still being set up-"

"-excuse me, the Fire Lord needs to sign this-"

"-Admiral Gen? Where is he? I have an urgent message-"

"-the supply ships are still offshore, all the food is floating out in the harbor-"

"-Has anyone seen where the cannons are being put?-"

"-the Fire Lord _must_ sign this-"

_It's a wonder we even managed to conquer majority of the world in the disorganized state we're operating in._ Zuko thought bemusedly.

He listened to the scattered conversations with one ear. The other was focused on the messenger sent by Commander Shen about troop movements and spy intelligence. His right hand scrawled notes to send to other generals while his eyes quickly scanned over reports sent in by scouts that had arrived a week earlier in the region.

A large part of being Fire Lord meant you had to be one hell of a multi-tasker.

Luckily for Zuko, it was something he was very good at. For the rest of the night, he continued working in this fashion. He got someone to bring in the supply ships and feed everybody, he commanded an actual perimeter with alert sentries to be set up around the humongous Fire Army camp, he found Admiral Gen and let him receive his urgent message, and he signed all the documents he needed to sign.

It was three in the morning when this chaotic operation was interrupted.

A shout and yell came up from the edge of the camp. Zuko stood alert, papers sliding off his lamp. All the men in his tent swiveled around to stare at the open door and listened to the sounds of a scuffle.

Zuko grabbed the nearest messenger boy. "Go find out what's happening." He hissed, before shoving him towards the entrance. The boy scrambled out and off into the dark night.

Not five minutes later, a struggling man was lead into the tent, heavily guarded by a dozen soldiers who held him by the arms and legs. Zuko could tell by the blue band around his forehead that the captive stranger was a Water bender rebel.

Commander Shen stepped up. "Keep him ten feet away from the Fire Lord." He ordered the silent tent full of men. "He could be an assassin."

The suspected man was thrown to the ground, and his head held up by his hair. He panted, still struggling feebly. His hands were held behind his back, and four soldiers sat on his legs to keep him down.

Zuko spoke up, with an authoritative voice that identified him as the Fire Lord. "Who are you?"

The man on the ground didn't answer, just glared hatefully up at Zuko.

Nobody spoke. They were all waiting for something to happen.

Zuko twirled a gleaming knife expertly in one hand. He noted that the rebel's eyes followed the shining metal fearfully, although he tried to appear brave.

One soldier spoke up. "We found him at the edge of the camp, spying. We guessed he was a rebel, and apprehended him as fast as possible."

Zuko gave a slight nod. "You did the right thing."

The rebel gave a cry of outrage and spit at Zuko. "You ignorant bastard! You don't know how many lives you are destroying because of your fucking ambition and your stupid war! Go home! Get off our land! Return the Avatar to us!"

Zuko looked at him calmly. "Quite a few demands from a nameless, dumb rebel." He remarked. Several officers in the tent chuckled. The rebel's face grew red with rage.

"Really, I'd love to find out who you are." Zuko said, flicking a piece of imaginary dust off his knife. The rebel's eyes were on the weapon again. "If you don't feel like telling me… there are several other ways to find out."

Courage and fear battled in the young man's face. He couldn't have been more than twenty. Zuko waited.

Fear won. As Zuko knew it always did.

The rebel opened his mouth. "I… I'm Juiko, from the Southern Water Tribe. I am Captain of the Water benders in the Earth Kingdom army." Hysteria edged his voice, and the rebel's dark brown, fear-filled eyes stared up at him.

Zuko froze. Juiko. From the Southern Water Tribe.

A woman's distant voice filled his memory, overlaying the frightened face of the man on the ground and the observers in his tent.

_"I had a little crush when I was eleven…His name was Juiko, and he was the cutest boy in my tribe. Dark hair, brown eyes, and whenever he smiled at me, my preteen heart just melted."_ Her wonderful soft laughter rang in Zuko's ears_. "It was puppy love… He must be nineteen now? Twenty? Hopefully he's still alive."_

Zuko could feel the eyes and stares of everyone in the tent, from Katara's childhood crush on the ground to all the commanders, admirals, and generals who were waiting for his decision. Waiting for his next move.

He set the knife onto the table with an audible tap, staring down at Juiko.

_"Jealous?" She laughed again._

_"No." He said defensively. "Just curious."_

Drawing his sword from his belt, Zuko sliced it through Juiko's trembling neck in one swift, violent stroke, blood spurting everywhere, coating everybody in the tent. The rebel's hand rolled until it rested at his feet.

Shocked silence received his ears. Nobody dared say anything.

Wiping his sword on one edge of a bloodstained carpet, Zuko smoothly slid it back into the sheath.

"Somebody clean this up." He said calmly. "After you're done, hang the head up on a pole outside the camp. That should discourage any further spies. They need to know who they're dealing with."

The dead, brown eyes of the rebel Waterbender stared up at Zuko. _Jealousy is a brown-eyed monster._

He strode forward to the tent entrance, people parting before him in gaping, open-mouthed surprise. Zuko needed some fresh air.

Once outside, he strode along the beach for the rest of the night, alone and with _her_ soft, happy laughter enveloping him in a hazy cloud.

* * *

**A/N:** Was going to include the Katara and Kaz's mother discussion in this chapter, but afraid everything else got too long. Will be in next chapter, don't worry. 

Plans for a sequel are developing. That's what I've decided to do.

**To all of you who wanted to use my line, "Love is blind. But it is not only blind, it is deaf, dumb and fucking stupid as well." I'm flattered, but this story is still copyrighted to me. I grant permission to use it sparingly, but only after you explicitly contact me personally through email, and you give credit to me and this story. Anything otherwise will be regarded as plagiarism. Thank you.**

Blooper #2:  
(So many people liked the last one so I decided to continue these things. They're fun to write, anyhow.)  
Blooper #2 refers to Zuko coming upon Sakai and Huang sending a letter off to Zhao:

_**Zuko:** What's that you got there?  
**Sakai and Huang:** (nervous glances) Nothing, Your Majesty!  
**Zuko:** I command you to tell me, buffoons!  
**Sakai**: (hides paper behind back) Really, it's just a letter from my girlfriend!  
**Zuko:** (snort) You? Girlfriend? As if.  
**Sakai: **(indignant) Hey!  
**Zuko:** (takes advantage of momentary lapse from Sakai to steal paper) What the hell is this?  
**Sakai:** (blushes deep red) Oh shit…  
**Zuko:** Playboy? What the hell is that? (opens magazine) HOLY FUCK…  
**Sakai: **(flustered) It's his! (points at Huang)  
**Huang:** Ehehehe…._

Q&A time:**  
**

**Is Appa dead or what?**  
He's not entirely important to me at this point in the story. Sorry for the animal cruelty (leaving him wounded and alone). I know it's bad writing to just leave him there in like, a separate, cut-off dimension of sorts, but there's other things I'm concerned with. He's not going to make a reappearance. Say he's dead.

**How can Katara send that bird back to Prince Zuko when he's one a ship thats moving from its current position, the bird will get lost because it won't be able to find the ship.**  
It's a magic carrier pigeon. That's all you need to know.  
… I'm so incredibly sorry I'm being so short with everyone. It's late and I'm in trouble with my mom for being on the computer so long, finishing this chapter.

**Is Zuko gonna find out about the baby? Is Zhao gonna do something to Katara? Is Sokka gonna realize who Zhao is? WILL CABBAGE MAN MAKE AN APPEARANCE?**  
Haha to **Lady Windsong** for her soap-opera narrator-ness. Well… I can't answer your first three questions, but I'm going to have to say _no_ to cabbage man. I was originally going to put him in here (since he's my favorite and all) but I think you can agree with me that everything's getting a bit too angsty and serious for some light-hearted humor now.

**Satan reads this story too.**  
Wow. Thanks for telling me, **Vixie.** No pressure, huh? You say it whitie-tighties, but I say it tightie-wighties. Haha. I can't feel my cranium right now either.

Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers! YEAH! Let's make 700 reviews this chapter. I love you all, so very very much. I write for you.


	20. Chapter 20: What a Tangled Web We Weave

**Chapter 20: What A Tangled Web We Weave**

Kaz's face was bright red when he lead Katara and her guard through the low, dark doorway into his home.

"I'm sorry its so small and- and such a m-mess." He stuttered.

Katara just smiled kindly at him. "My childhood home was smaller." She said cheerfully. "I lived in a hut, in case you didn't know." _And I was supposed to live in a hut my whole life. Not on the back of a flying bison, and certainly not in an opulent palace in the Fire Nation._ There were so many things in this world she wasn't supposed to do, and yet still had done.

Kaz seemed to relax. To her relief, Katara noticed that her guard took up a position outside the door. She didn't really care one way or another what he thought, but iw ould have been just a little awkward to have him there when she and Kaz's mother began to talk about pregnancy and birth and other… womanly matters.

Kaz hadn't been lying when he'd said his home was small. It had two rooms. The front room (the one Katara was currently standing in) seemed to triple as a kitchen/dining/bedroom/everything-room. A primitive stove and sink were installed in one corner, while a crooked table teetered on three legs. A small cot-type bed was pushed against the inside wall.

Kaz blushed again and hurried to rearrange the rumpled sheets. "This is where I sleep." He said, pulling the blankets straight. "My mother and sister sleep in the other room. I'll go get them now." He disappeared, leaving Katara to stare at her surroundings in wonder. Her whole room in the palace was bigger than this! Her private bathroom could easily have encompassed Kaz's entire home.

She felt horribly spoiled. What had she ever done to deserve such luxury in her life? She'd give it all up to have her old life with Sokka and Aang back.

_Would you?_ A voice asked her. _Would you give up the time you had with Zuko in order to get your old life back? Would you agree to forget everything you've learned, everything you've experienced, and everything you've loved in order to go back to the way things were?_

_Would you give up Zuko?_

_Would you give up your baby?_

She couldn't answer that. Things weren't so simple now, she realized. Everything blurred together confusingly. Old and new, black and white, good and evil. When had life become so complicated?

The door to the second room creaked open, and Katara turned, shaking herself out of her reverie.

Kaz came first, a shy smile on his face. Behind him came an older woman, with a young girl clinging to her skirts.

This was Katara's first impression of Kaz's mother:

Black hair with a few gray strands pulled back into a loose bun. Tanned, worn skin with smile wrinkles by her eyes and mouth. The most kindly, motherly, and tired eyes Katara had ever seen in her life. And a rounded stomach like her own.

The woman smiled, slight wrinkles playing into effect. "Hello. I'm Majin. We've heard so much about you from Kaz." This woman exuded warmth and tenderness and a certain world-weariness with every move she made. She put a gentle hand on Kaz's shoulder as she spoke his name. Katara could see how the boy leaned into the comfort of his mother's touch.

All of a sudden, Katara felt tears prickling in the corners of her eyes as an incomparable wave of sorrow washed over her. _Oh mama why did you have to go?_

Katara forced her own tears back down, but knew that Majin had noticed. The older woman didn't say anything, but her expression said it all. Katara was unbelievably grateful.

"This is Lady Katara." Kaz did the introductions. "She's the one who gave us the money to pay for Sora's school tuition."

"For which we'll be forever grateful, my lady." Majin made a slight curtsy that spoke volumes. She pushed her daughter in front of her. Sora had wide glasses that covered her tiny face, and a book clutched in one hand.

"Say thank you to the nice lady, Sora. She's the one who made it so you can go to school."

Sora made her own wobbly curtsy and ducked her head shyly, whispering "Thank you Lady Katara."

"Please." Katara choked out. "Just Katara, please."

Majin inclined her head in agreement. "Of course, Katara." Bending down to whisper in her daughter's ear, she said, "Sora. Go put on your nice dress for our important guest, alright?"

The wide-eyed girl nodded silently before racing off into the other room. Kaz took a seat on his bed.

Gesturing for Katara to sit down, Majin pulled out a chair for herself. "Kaz tells me you're expecting as well, and you had some questions to ask me."

Katara's mouth felt dry. She hadn't really thought this far ahead. "Well… I…"

Majin laughed softly, pushing a cup of tea over in front of Katara. "Don't be shy. Ask away. I'll help you however I can… I have done this before, yes?"

Katara managed a weak smile, and seized the first thought that came into her head. "Does it hurt?" She blurted out, then instantly regretted it. What a stupid question! You're giving birth! _Of course_ it hurts! It's not all fluffy clouds and rainbows, you stupid girl!

"I won't sugarcoat it for your, Katara. Childbirth is an extremely painful thing to endure." Majin sipped her own tea. "It was the second most painful thing I've ever experienced in my life."

"What was the first?" Katara asked before cursing herself silently. She wasn't here to pry into other people's business.

"The death of my husband." Majin gazed at Katara with clear, unflinching eyes.

Katara felt like jumping off the highest cliff she could possibly find. "I'm… I didn't mean to… I mean, I'm so sorry, but I… I didn't…"

Majin just smiled that sad smile, and it rendered all of Katara's fumbling words ineffective.

"Would you consider yourself in love, Katara?"

Who was supposed to be asking who questions? Katara swallowed. "Yes." It was the first time she'd ever admitted it to someone other than herself… and Zuko. And to a pure stranger, no less. But somehow, sitting across from this woman who'd had so much pain in her life, it didn't feel like she was talking to a stranger.

"How old are you?"

"I'm… I'm sixteen." At least she could say her own age properly.

Majin showed no surprise at Katara's age. It wasn't an uncommon thing in Fire Nation culture to marry young, especially if it was an arranged marriage between nobles. Katara wondered if Majin knew who she was. Did Kaz's mother think Katara was real nobility? Did she think Katara was married? Or had Kaz told her the truth?

"How old do you think I am?" The older woman asked.

Katara studied the woman sitting opposite her. Graying her, weary eyes, tired skin. Lined hands that spoke of care, love and manual labor. A face that must have been attractive and pleasing in her youth. Majin still had beauty, but none of that shallow, skin-deep prettiness that came in the younger years. It was a worldly, aged beauty that had experienced love and loss.

"Thirty… thirty-seven?" Katara estimated uncertainly, wondering what this would lead to.

"I'm twenty-eight, Katara."

For the second time that day, Katara seriously contemplated suicide. Why couldn't she ever say anything right in front of Kaz's mother? Why did she constantly have to appear as a stupid, foolish girl who couldn't keep her mouth shut?

Majin didn't look offended or angry. In fact, she looked like she found the entire thing quite funny. Katara squirmed in her seat uncomfortably, keeping that high cliff in mind.

"I'm twenty-eight, which means I was the same age you are when Kaz was born." Majin spared a tender smile towards her firstborn son. He smiled back.

"It wasn't exactly the smart thing to do. My husband and I had gotten married not two months earlier, and we were as in love as any couple could possibly be. Unfortunately, we were also dirt poor, and both our parents dead. So Royan, my husband, did the only thing he could and joined the army."

Katara averted her eyes. She knew what was coming next.

"It was all fine for about nine years. The army gave us money. Then the war escalated against the Earth Kingdom, and Royan was sent off on a year-long draft."

Katara noticed out of the corner of her eye that Kaz had turned away from them on the bed.

"He didn't come back." Majin stared unblinkingly at a spot above Katara's head.

Katara felt like running out the door and away from this house filled with sorrow because it hurt to just watch Majin talk about her husband's death.

"And this is the way we've been ever since." She lifted one callused hand to wipe away something on her face. Water. Just water. "How queer I must seem to you!" Majin laughed, a sad laugh. "Telling you all about our family history when you've come here to receive help with your pregnancy. How impolite of me."

But her eyes sharpened when she looked at Katara again. "I told you this for a reason. Because Kaz mentioned that the father of your child is in the army."

What an understatement. The irony of it all almost choked Katara.

But Katara didn't say anything. Perhaps Kaz had a reason for keeping the truth about Katara's identity from his mother.

"I'm not trying to foretell doom or tragedy on you, dear girl, but be ready. Anything could happen at any second, and the people you love will never come back to you." Majin said, eyes searching the younger girl's face for a sign of anything.

_And the people you love will never come back to you_. Don't I know it. Father never came back from the war. Mother never came back from the medicine hut. Sokka never came back after he left me in the palace.

According to her life so far, Zuko's chances of coming back to her were none. Absolute zero.

"Does it get easier?" Katara's voice almost broke. "Does it get easier after awhile? After a long time? Does it get easier to live your life like nothing's happened?"

"It is never _easy_, but it is necessary."

Of course it was. Leaving her home and helping Aang on his quest hadn't been _easy_, but it had been necessary in order to help the Avatar. Dealing with her parents' deaths had not been _easy_, but it had been necessary in order to keep on living, instead of ending it all right there and then. Forgiving Sokka for leaving her in the palace had not been _easy_, but it had been necessary. Her brother had obviously moved on with his life; she would move on with hers. It was never, ever easy. But it was _necessary_.

Falling in love with Zuko hadn't been necessary.

But it had been maddeningly, unbelievably _easy_.

Just went to show how fucked up this world was.

After that conversation, there really was nothing more left to say between the two women. Katara asked Majin to check on her swelled stomach, to make sure everything was fine.

"You are, what, five, six months along now?" Majin asked as she gently probed Katara's abdomen.

"Almost six."

"Have you felt the baby move yet?"

"Yes." Katara couldn't keep the stupid smile off her face. The first time she'd felt it was when she was lying in bed, trying to fall asleep a week ago. The unbelievable happiness that arose in her was like a drug, knowing that her child was alive and well. Sometimes she was kept awake by the movements, but it never bothered her that she might lost a little sleep over it. It'd be much worse if the baby stopped moving.

"Then I can't find anything wrong with you or the baby, Katara! Everything seems to be just fine." Majin smiled. "But I'm no professional- if you're still worried you could get a physician or midwife to check on you."

_No thanks_. Asking the Royal Physicians in the palace to check on her pregnancy? Hah. "I think I'm fine. Thank you very, very much Majin."

"It was no problem."

They exchanged other pleasantries and even a hug (or as close as they could embrace with both their bellies between them) before Katara left.

Outside the door, she encountered her guard. He looked the same as always. Stony-faced and silent. She didn't even know his name.

It was dark as they walked back to the palace. It was a very quiet walk, since it was just Katara and her soldier this time. Kaz would stay home and sleep before he had to go to work tomorrow again.

_If I'm lucky_, Katara thought to herself. _I'll be able to survive like Majin has after this war blows over. I'll support my child on my own, and I'll make a living by myself. _

* * *

Sokka and Zhao (or more accurately, Urek and Dotsu, as they were known now) were currently hiding out in the room they'd rented at a small inn in the outskirts of Kotzut. They'd booked a passage for the Earth Kingdom that very afternoon, and were staying inside in order to avoid any soldiers who might recognize their faces. 

Zhao had two letters to read that day. The first was from Sakai.

_Z –_

_This name is important: Juiko from the Southern Water Tribe. He's a rebel spy who got caught last night. He was brought into Zuko's tent. The minute that rebel said his name and where he was from, the Fire Lord killed him._

_Southern Water Tribe. Maybe some relation to the girl? Whatever it is, it bothered Zuko to the point of drawing his sword and hacking off the rebel's head. Normal procedures would have had Zuko interrogating the prisoner until he gave up all information possible concerning rebel movements and other intelligence. Instead, he wasted a perfectly good source by killing him._

_Another reason why that idiot shouldn't be allowed to be Fire lord._

_- S_

Hm. Interesting. Zhao put it aside thoughtfully and picked up the second letter.

Zhao's eyes widened in disbelief as he read it, written by a contact inside the palace.

"What is it?" Sokka asked.

Zhao gave a low whistle of wonder and shook his head from side-to-side as he continued to read.

Sokka had never seen this expression on Zhao before. He was usually either arrogant, demanding, or angry. Sometimes all three at the same time. This was new. Sokka was intrigued.

Zhao's eyes snapped up to look at Sokka. Immediately his expression cleared and his old, manipulative smile crept up again. "Nothing important. Just spy stuff. Little details, nothing of importance."

After awhile, Sokka lost interest and decided to turn in early. Zhao stayed up, one candle lit in a corner of the room, his back facing the bed Sokka was snoring on. The ex-Admiral reread the letter feverishly

_Z – _

_Went with the girl to servant's house today to see a woman._

_My suspicions are confirmed. The girl is with child._

_I've only seen her come outside three times. The first time to see the portrait room, the second to send a letter, and this is the third. The first two times I didn't see anything, she wore a heavy cloak. _

_It's not fat. She is pregnant, alright._

_The woman at the house must have been some sort of midwife. Couldn't really hear much; I was outside. It would have been suspicious if I had gone inside. _

_- W_

Zhao couldn't help but smile to himself. This certainly changed things. It really helped having a spy so close to Katara at all times. Not even Zuko himself knew that the guard he'd assigned to protect Katara was really under Zhao's influence.

Things were really happening now. Zhao had time to send off one more letter before he and Sokka departed for the Earth Kingdom tomorrow morning. Based on information Sokka and the guard had given him, Zhao could write quite the convincing letter to a special someone.

Hopefully it wouldn't shock her to the point of harming the child. That would be an incredible tragedy.

* * *

Katara was in a very good mood the next morning, after her visit to Kaz's house. Her pregnancy was apparently coming along fine, and there was a messenger bird tapping at her window. _Zuko's letter!_

She wasn't disappointed when she flipped open the paper to read the contents.

_Katara – _

_I haven't been in that portrait room forever. I didn't visit it after we came back to the palace. I wasn't the one who covered my mother's picture, Katara. It must have been my father._

_As for your little rearrangement… I was a good-looking as a child? Well, I still am. And the scar. It's something that deserves a more than a few lines on a piece of paper. I'll tell you when I get back._

_We landed a few days ago, and its been very chaotic and messy. We start our march tomorrow, to find the rebel camp. We haven't seen any of them yet. _

_I told Iroh what you said, and it cheered him up considerably, since he was currently working on organizing the troops who were building the temporary outhouses. He sends his greetings again and wants you to know that he kissed this paper before it was sent off. If that comforts you any. I don't see why it should._

_The Avatar is fine. Don't worry about him. I haven't seen him for awhile actually. He's still on one of the ships, so I haven't had the chance to talk to him yet. But I promise that when I do, I'll tell him that you are still alive and well. No more._

_- Zuko_

Katara felt strangely elated as she finished reading. Three things made her happy: The fact that Zuko had agreed to share his past with her when he came back, the fact that Iroh's sense of humor came through the letter, and the fact that Zuko had _promised_ to tell Aang she was perfectly fine. Everything was definitely okay. And Zuko was still alive.

Before she could pull out another piece of paper and begin her reply, a second tapping at the window drew her attention.

_Another_ carrier pigeon? _Two_ letters? How strange. Who else would have the motive to mail her? It might be Iroh, who had finally decided to write her on his own. Whatever it was, and whoever it was, Katara was curious.

She opened the window and allowed the bird to come in before untying the message from its legs.

_Katara – _

_You don't know who I am, but I know who you are._

_It's not important that you know my name. What's important is what I know, and am going to tell you._

_I know everything about you, my dear girl. I know you're from the Southern Water Tribe. I know you are a Water bender. I know you are a close friend of the Avatar's. I know you were captured almost seven months ago by the Fire Lord. I know you love the Fire Lord. I know you think he loves you back._

_And I know you're pregnant with his child._

_I know where you brother is. And I know the events surrounding his hasty departure from the palace. Of course you think he left you, isn't that what Zuko told you? What you don't know is Zuko made him leave by force, under heavy guard. Your precious Fire Lord had your brother thrown out of the palace. It is to my personal knowledge that Sokka suffered a bit of beating from his guards. I don't know if Zuko authorized it. It's likely._

_You probably don't believe me. You think this is a prank letter. Ask your darling little servant boy what he really saw that night, when your brother left the castle. Did he leave alone, willingly? Or was he surrounded by soldiers? _

_As for soldiers, ask your little bodyguard who stands so faithfully outside your door. He was there that night._

_I'd also like to take the time to inform you that Juiko from the Southern Water Tribe is dead. The Fire Lord killed him about a week ago. Zuko did it personally, with his own sword. What an honor._

_Hopefully you'll use this knowledge as best you can. My only concern is for your well-being. If you are being lied to, it is my job to show you the real truth._

_I am forever your faithful and humble servant._

Katara had never felt so cold in her life.

She moved as if in a daze.

There was only one way to fix this. Only one way to tell if it was all a lie.

Katara opened the door and went outside, face-to-face with her nameless guard.

"What's your name?" She asked clearly. Her voice did not shake.

"Wun, my Lady."

"Three months ago. Did you escort a man out of the palace? Just any man."

"Yes I did. The Fire Lord asked several of us to throw him out of the city."

"Was his arm bandaged?"

"With white cloth. How do you know this?" He seemed oddly curious.

"Did he want to leave?"

"No. He was quite adamant about staying behind. He kept yelling for you, I think. Strange, isn't it? Maybe a crazy stalker. Lord Zuko had us remove him from the castle."

"Was he harmed?"

Wun averted his eyes slightly. "He struggled. We weren't altogether careful."

"Thank you."

Katara closed the door behind her cleanly and returned to her room. She sat down on the sofa with her hands primly folded in her lap. The letter lay beside her on the couch. She didn't touch it.

Sooner or later, Kaz would arrive with her breakfast. She trusted him. She trusted him enough to tell him about her child, when she hadn't even told Zuko himself.

_Juiko from the Southern Water Tribe is dead. The Fire Lord killed him._

Once Kaz arrived, she could clear this whole mess up. She'd find out the truth.

One way or another, she'd find out.

* * *

"Lord Zuko! Commander Sakai and Advisor Huang are outside. They request a meeting with you." 

Zuko rubbed a hand slowly over his eyes. Of all people. Why did they constantly have to plague him? "Send them in."

Sakai and Huang came in, did their usual courtesies and bows and what-not. Zuko nodded at them, and they took a seat on the cushions before his makeshift desk. The whole army had been on the move for five days now, marching into the thick forests towards the rebel camp. Shortly after Juiko had been killed, another rebel spy had been sent to find out why the first spy was taking so long. The second one, and Earth bender this time, had been duly apprehended and questioned.

Pain had a curious way of loosening up people's tongues.

Whatever the methods, Zuko now knew the location of the camp, along with plans and maps and schedules. Everything was going along just they way he'd planned it. The Avatar was in his possession, carried along in a metal cage securely tied on top of a horse-drawn wagon, the kind that usually carried supplies.

Huang had a beaming smile on his face.

It made Zuko both uncomfortable and suspicious. That man never smiled.

"Lord Zuko! My son and I are here to congratulate you!"

_Oh, get it over with. _"The capture of the spy and the information he provided was achieved through the work of all the men, not just I. I will pass along the congratulations to the honorable guards who caught the rebel."

Huang looked surprised and confused. There was a strange flicker in the old man's eyes. Zuko grew more suspicious. "Oh, we don't mean the spy, your Majesty!"

Sakai chimed in. "We mean the great and happy news of your unborn child!"

Zuko froze.

Everything about him stilled. His eyes, his hands, his expression, his thoughts.

Those two men in front of him were still talking.

"-Wonderful, an heir for the Fire Nation! Just wonderful-"

"-Now the throne is secure! Your bloodline runs on-"

Zuko pinned them under his gaze. They stopped talking. "My _what_?"

Huang looked uncertain. Zuko was sure it was an act. Or maybe it wasn't.

"Your… your child, my Lord."

Sakai looked at him, all wide-eyed innocence. It didn't suit him. "The Lady Katara is pregnant, yes?"

They were asking him questions as if he knew the answers.

As if he knew _anything_.

"She's pregnant?" He rasped loudly. It didn't sound like his voice. It didn't sound at all like him.

They both started talking at once. It was hell on his ears.

"-Well of course she is, I mean, for a child to be born-"

"-don't know how far along she is, it's usually nine months-"

"Shut up."

They shut up.

"How do you know this?" _How do I not?_

Huang spoke up. "Well, my daughter Adia saw the Lady Katara walking outside and she was obviously with child. At first, Adia thought the Lady was just… you know, putting on weight."

He cast a quick glance at Zuko to see if he would take offense. Zuko sat in still silence. "But, my daughter being a _woman_, you know, they can just tell these things by looking at them and Lady Katara hadn't put on weight anywhere else. Adia also says the Lady went to see a midwife recently."

_To see a midwife_. If that wasn't confirmation, Zuko didn't know what was.

Huang continued. "So my daughter wrote us as soon as possible in order to remind us that congratulations were in order! Good thing she did, or Sakai and I would have been left in the dark. How come you didn't see fit to tell us, my Lord? The whole country should know. It would be a cause for great celebration."

Silence.

You could hear water drip down the leaves of the trees outside the tent.

The perfect clear droplets slipped down, down, down.

Over each vibrant green leaf, sliding across the color and veins.

Until it hit the dirt brown forest floor, muddying and dirtying and drying up until nothing was left.

Sakai spoke up meekly. "Do you mean to tell us… do you mean to tell us, my Lord, that you didn't… know?"

Disbelief was evident on both men's faces, as if they couldn't possibly think that Zuko had not known he had a child. Unborn, but it was still a child.

Their faces blurred together like they were underwater.

"She… she didn't tell you my Lord?"

"All those letters… she didn't tell you?"

Zuko was aware that later, he would regret revealing the fact that he hadn't known about the pregnancy to these two idiots. It was quite humiliating, to be told your lover was pregnant by two men who were your subordinates. And quite embarrassing, that to let them know that you were so in the dark you didn't even know your own unborn child was to be born in a few months time.

But right now, he felt no regrets. No humiliation, no embarrassment. Just… nothing.

In fact, he wanted to know more from these two men.

"Katara is pregnant. With my child?"

They exchanged a look. Zuko couldn't decipher it.

"Well… of course, there is no guarantee it is _your_ child."

Zuko's heart seemed to curl. Like a leaf that went too long without water.

Brittle and yellow and dead.

"You've been gone a long time, my Lord. For almost three months."

"How far along is the pregnancy?" His voice didn't shake, but it seemed to come from far away.

"We have no idea, my Lord. My daughter didn't mention it."

"Three months is… a long time." Sakai said gently.

Huang seemed to try to make up for it. "Besides, how well do you even know this woman?"

In another time, another place, Zuko might have grown angry and let his temper have its way. Huang's words were offensive, accusing Zuko of not knowing his own woman well enough.

But those words of Huang's slipped into Zuko's mind like a tiny insect and left a slimy trail, gleaming with doubt and suspicion.

_How well do I know her?_

"After all, she was in league with the Avatar first, was she not?"

"And you know those Water people. They have the strangest ideas of morals and loyalties."

Zuko didn't know those Water people. But if they all snuck around behind their loved ones' backs, keeping unbelievably important news from them, then they certainly could have strange morals and even stranger loyalties.

"How much time did she spend with the Avatar before meeting you, my Lord? Two years? Almost three?"

"She was with you, your Majesty, for only a few months before you left."

"That's a lot of time spent with the enemy, and not enough with your excellency, if you can excuse my bold words, Lord Zuko."

Those bold words crept into his chest and lodged there, driving their roots deep into his fire.

All that uneaten food. She'd been trying to hide it from him. All that time, before he'd left the palace.

How could he have placed so much trust in one person?

He'd never even trusted his own uncle like that.

He'd never even trusted his own father like that.

"Why… why didn't she tell me?" His voice broke. Almost like he was an innocent boy again. Asking his tutors and mentors questions.

Another glance between Huang and Sakai. But Zuko didn't notice.

He was too far gone.

"Maybe she had a reason to hide."

"Maybe she… maybe she didn't _trust_ you enough, my Lord."

_I trust her_.

_I trusted her_.

"The Avatar is still only a child himself. And he's been here with me." Zuko said calmly.

"Not _him_, your Majesty. But plenty of other men in the palace. Servants… guards."

Guards.

One guard. One man.

One other man was all it took. Juiko's face flashed in his mind before it too, was lost in the swirling madness inside his head.

"Mercy is a great virtue as well, my Lord." Huang said quietly.

"Yes. Give her another chance to prove herself. Maybe in her next letter she will tell you. Maybe she's just too scared now." Sakai echoed his father.

Another chance.

Like all the chances she'd given him.

"Yes." He said, his mouth forming the word. "Yes. I will give her one more chance."

"That would be extremely generous of you, my Lord."

"You'll soon find out if she deserves it. If she tells you, it'll prove her worth. If she doesn't…" Sakai's voice trailed off.

"Does anyone else know of this news?" Zuko asked. He had to know if he was the only one who had been left in the dark.

The two men exchanged yet another glance. It didn't bother Zuko anymore. "We haven't heard anything, my Lord. Perhaps we were the first to find out. Have any other men come to congratulate you?"

"No. You are the first." _And the only, if I have any say in it_.

They stared at him. "What… what would you suggest we do, my Lord?"

"Not a single word to anyone else. Don't even talk about it in private. If word gets around, and gossips start talking, I'll know who to blame." He said, clear and steady.

Huang and Sakai both made hurried bows and assurances.

"Of course my Lord, your privacy is our utmost concern."

"We would never even think of spreading news if your Majesty said not to."

"Good." said Zuko. His voice still sounded like somebody else's. "You can leave now. And… thank you."

They both bowed low again and murmured their words of sympathy.

_Get out_.

They left.

He took out the one letter Katara had sent so far. It was already creased and smudged, because he'd read it so many times.

That night, he read over it again, and again, and again until the words blurred together in his mind and he'd memorized every single word. Not once was there any reference to her state. Except for her line, "_just tell him that I'm still alive and breathing"_ when she was talking about the Avatar.

And, "_He'd do the same for you if your situations were reversed"_

Why did she keep talking about that damn boy?

"_Don't worry, I'm still alive. The guard you left behind has been doing a pretty good job"_

Zuko began to see deceptions behind every word inked onto the paper.

Every slope of a letter, every swirl in each line whispered of lies and concealment.

Why didn't you tell me? Were you scared?

What were you scared of?

Why didn't you tell me?

_Why_?

* * *

**A/N:** Forget what I said before, about this being 22 chapters. It's going to be a bit longer. I thought I could fit more into each chapter, but it'd make each chapter WAY too long. Besides, you like more chapters in this story, right? 

This chapter might have pissed some people off… but sorry, that's the way things are going in this story.

**Q&A Time:** (If I missed someone's, just ask again. Sorry.)

**I just have ONE question: is the cabbage man going to make an appearance in the SEQUEL? –Lala-Ness**  
Well, you're just going to have to FIND OUT, aren't ya?

**Also, I noticed you made a mistake:"Right." Zuko said, smiling in a friendly manner. "And now that things are moving… we're going to start moving as well."That part came when Sokka and Zhou were talking. It got pretty confusing! How'd Zuko get there? –Princess Nightfire**  
I got several questions like this one. Yup, I did make a mistake! Just to clear it up, it was supposed to be ZHAO saying that line, not ZUKO. They both begin with Z so I guess I got messed up. Sorry!

**Katara belongs with her family, not Zuko! --katara water bender forever**  
Sadira, I've gotten several reviews from you saying that Katara and Zuko should not be together. This… is a ZukoKatara romantic story (although it's turning into quite the angsty fic, isn't it?) so I'm sorry to say, they're going to end up together. If you'd prefer that not to happen… I suggest you read another story. But I'm glad you still like mine. XD

Haha. Thanks for 700 reviews!


	21. Chapter 21: Descent Into Madness

**Chapter 21: Descent into Madness**

It didn't take much.

Just one small pack that she could sling over her shoulder, and a larger sack for other items. She packed these with the usual essentials. Clothes. Money.

Mostly she packed loose, flowing robes made of regular material. Nothing that would single her out as a woman or importance, but she didn't look like a poor beggar either. They would allow for easy movement, especially since her pregnant belly didn't seem to be getting any smaller. There was money to pay for a fast merchant ship sailing to the Earth Kingdom, and more than enough left over to take care of details like food and lodging.

Katara went out the next morning, and pretended to share a cup of tea with her guard, along with a friendly chat. The white sleeping powder dissolved quickly in hot liquids, and was completely odorless. In minutes, Wun was asleep and dreaming.

The hard part she saved for last.

When Kaz came to bring her breakfast, she told him that she had an urgent question for his mother, and would he please take her back for one more meeting? She would excuse him from his duties and make sure he still got paid. He agreed readily enough, and they left the palace quickly. Kaz either didn't notice the absence of her bodyguard, or didn't care enough to question it. Or thought it would be out of his place as a servant to ask her why.

Either way, Katara was fine with the silence.

Majin greeted them, and asked Katara why she was back again so soon. Had a problem come up with the baby?

Katara explained that something indeed had come up, but not with the baby. The problem was her husband, who apparently had suffered some kind of serious injury, and she'd only just received news about it. She wanted to be there with him while he healed, and was buying passage for herself on a merchant ship that was leaving for the Earth Kingdom tonight.

Taking a bag out of her cloak, she placed it on the table between herself and Majin. It jingled and settled, bulging, onto the wood.

Majin eyed it. "That is certainly a lot of money, Katara."

"It's enough for two people's ship fare to the Earth Kingdom."

"_Two _people?"

"I'll need help, especially with this big belly. A pregnant woman traveling by herself will also seem suspicious. I'll need a traveling companion."

All of a sudden, Kaz sat up straight and turned to Katara wonderingly. Katara remained quiet. He was a smart boy.

It took Majin a few more seconds to figure it out. "You want… you want my son to…"

Katara lifted yet another bag out from beneath her cloak, and settled it next to the first. It was the exact same size. "Half of the gold in that bag covers one year of Kaz's salary. The other half is a gift."

"You're intending to _buy_ my son from me?" Majin's response was incredulous.

Katara felt only a bit offended. She wasn't a slave trader. But she supposed that was what it all looked like. "I know that's what it looks like-"

"You think _money_ would ever replace my firstborn?"

"Ma," Kaz interrupted. "I _want_ to go, really, I do. And think of what the money could do for our family. It could cover half a year's rent, pay for more of Sora's tuition and medical bills if something happens to the new baby."

Majin sat silently still, looking at first the money, and then her son.

"Besides, it's not like I'm going to be gone forever. Only a few months." Kaz tried reassuring his mother. But both the women could already see the feverish anticipation in his eyes. He'd never known anything more than work, work, and more work in his extremely young life. An all-expenses paid trip would be heaven for the boy. It was a chance for him to see the world, to experience life before he became an adult and shoved into increasing responsibilities. It was his last shot at a childhood, and his first shot at independence.

And Majin could see that. Although it hurt her deeply to think that her son would be so far away from her for such a long time, she could see how much he wanted this. How much he longed to get away from his tiny, closed-in world and really _live_. It would make him amazingly happy.

And really, what more did a mother want for her child other than happiness?

If it would make him happy, it would make her happy. It only sorrowed her to think that she could not be the one to give him this gift. At least a generous noblewoman like the Lady Katara had come along into Kaz's life and given him this chance. The least Majin could do was give her blessing.

"_Please_, ma?" Kaz begged. "_Please_ can I go? I'll be perfectly safe, and someone has to look after the Lady Katara."

Katara merely nodded. There was really nothing she could do to encourage Majin's decision now. She'd put all she could offer on the table (literally) and it was up to the mother to decide what was best for her son.

As soon as the first tear trickled down Majin's cheek, Katara knew what the answer would be. When Majin's body began to shake with sobs, Kaz understood and immediately rose to embrace his mother.

"It's only for a little while, Ma. Only a little bit and then I'll be back… just imagine what the money could do for Sora and the baby… imagine the new clothes you'll be able to buy!" He murmured, hugging Majin. Tears continued to trickle down her cheeks.

Katara rose from the table and walked outside, understanding that anything more she said now would be intrusive and non-essential. She leaned against the wall, and wondered if she'd be able to keep her own children with her forever. Would she have to let go of her baby one day too? Would she have to make the choice to let her children grow up and leave her?

Of course she would. Every parent had to let go, even if all they wanted to do was hold on forever. Her own parents, on the other hand, had never gotten to experience that sorrow and happiness. They'd left her and Sokka much too soon for that.

After awhile, Katara turned around as a red-eyed but smiling Majin came outside along with Kaz and Sora.

"Thank you." Was all Majin could choke out. Kaz looked tear-eyed too, but kept himself in check as he bent down to kiss his younger sister good-bye. Both Sora and Majin hugged him at once, and he tried to laugh it off at the same time he tried not to cry.

"I'll be back in a couple months! No big deal!"

After many more tears and good-byes and I-love-yous, Katara and Kaz left for the walk down to the harbor. She lifted the smaller pack onto her shoulder, while Kaz took the larger one and his own small knapsack he'd packed in a hurry.

"Ready?" She asked him.

"Yeah." He said, taking in a deep breath. "I think I've been ready for this for all of my life."

"I'm glad."

They walked in silence for a few more minutes, passing out of the neighborhood district and into the busy market.

"Why are you really leaving, Katara?" Kaz asked seriously. "Is the Fire Lord really hurt? I know that can't be it."

"You're right, Kaz. I did lie to your mother. But since you didn't tell her who the father of my child is… I wasn't sure if you wanted her to know at all."

"I didn't. I guessed you wanted to keep it a secret."

"I did."

"That doesn't answer my question though. Why are we going to the army?"

"Business has… come up."

"What business?"

Kaz was curiously persistent today. Usually he took all of her subtle hints well and shut up. But she supposed that since he was coming along with her on this journey, he felt that he deserved to know more information. And he probably did. But that didn't meant she was willing to trust even Kaz with anything concerning her reasons for traveling.

"The Fire Lord wrote a couple days back, and wants me to join him at the army camp." _I want to see his expression when I show up so suddenly_, Katara thought to herself. _How will he deal with it, that lying bastard_.

Kaz looked slightly incredulous. "That's unusual. Women don't usually accompany the men on war campaigns."

"Zuko is the Fire Lord. He can do anything unusual and people will wonder, but they'll still listen to him." Or risk having their head chopped off.

"Is it because of the baby?"

"Yes." She was lying through her teeth, and Kaz didn't suspect a thing. He didn't have to know the all the real information. One of which was that Zuko had no idea he had a baby.

They boarded the ship that night without any further difficulties.

Now all they had to do was wait. They'd be at the shore of the Earth Kingdom in roughly a month, the weather permitting. The captain of the merchant ship _Dove_ was polite and accommodating, especially to a woman in Katara's condition. She passed Kaz off as a younger brother accompanying her on a trip to see her sick husband, who was in the army.

By her calculations, when they finally docked in the Earth Kingdom, she would be seven months along in her pregnancy. Like it or not, her baby would most likely be born in an army camp. Not in a luxurious palace, or a tribe surrounded by loving family and friends. A war camp.

What an auspicious beginning it would be.

* * *

Zuko cursed every time he opened a letter and it turned out to be a report from a border patrol or an inventory list from the supply ships. His entire life seemed to hang on the mail brought in by carrier birds. He anticipated every single letter with a sort of desperate urgency, and felt like going out and carving up an army of rebels when he found out for the thousandth time that Katara had not written him.

Where was her letter? Why hadn't she written back after his last delivery? Her letters usually arrived within a week after he sent his own off.

Every day that passed without her reply further cemented the suspicions Sakai and Huang had planted in his mind.

Those two men were oily snakes who would take advantage of the weakest beggar child if something was to be earned from him. But their words were convincing. Zuko knew that they might be just trying to manipulate him, but the seeds of their words had taken root and would not let go.

Every night after they pitched camp and army business was concluded, Zuko paced his tent over and over again, wondering and cursing and pleading for a letter to come from Katara.

Nothing came, and Zuko slipped further and further into the paranoia and suspicion that was beginning to grip him.

* * *

Katara had almost forgotten what it was like to sail on a ship again. The first night she woke up in the darkness, desperately feeling for Zuko's warmth next to her, the way she had done every night since he'd left. There was another person in the cabin with her, but it was not Zuko's deep, slow breathing that greeted her ears.

She strained to see the faint outline of the rise and fall of Kaz's sleeping body on the bunk opposite her own, and his peaceful, lighter breathing was calm next to her own harsh breaths.

It was hard to fall asleep sometimes, mostly because the baby chose to kick right when Katara felt the most tired. However obnoxious this became, Katara was glad the baby moved. It would be much worse if the child _stopped_ kicking.

She lay shakily back down in her sheets, and tried not to think anymore about Zuko. With every fiber of her being, she wished that the anonymous letter had been lying. About Sokka, and about Juiko.

But if the author of the letter had been lying, that would mean Wun, her drugged guard, and Kaz, her most trusted friend, were lying as well. That was already three peoples' words that countered what Zuko had originally told her.

_The odds are already building up against you, Zuko. Hurry and prove them wrong. Please_.

That's why she was taking this trip. To prove that Zuko had not lied to her, and everything they had together was real.

* * *

It took one long, long month to reach the Earth Kingdom, and Kaz had gotten over his seasickness by then.

When they stepped off the merchant ship and bid goodbye to the captain, Kaz stared at Port Yeriv in amazement. Yeriv was a small, out-of-the-way trading station on the shore of the Earth Kingdom. It in no way matched up to the grand magnificence of Menthat, the other trading city Katara had visited before. But to Kaz, it was a whole new world.

"Are all their cities like this?" He asked, following slowly behind Katara as they navigated their way through the crowds.

Katara smiled to herself. Of course Kaz would be in awe. He'd never seen anything outside of Kotzut. Earth Kingdom architecture, customs, accents, and art would seem dramatically different from the usual Fire Nation styles Kaz was used to.

"You should see Omashu." Katara remarked, sidestepping a harried cabbage seller who was haphazardly wheeling his large produce cart down the crowded street.

However, Kaz, who was still gaping wide-eyed at everything around him, wasn't so careful. He ran smack dab into the wooden cart, causing the tower of cabbages to shudder and begin dropping it's load.

Mouth opened in horror, Kaz quickly snatched one, two, three cabbages as they began tumbling down around the poor boy. Luckily Kaz had only jarred the cart, and only one more cabbage fell into his grasp.

All three of them, Katara, Kaz, and the cabbage seller, breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm so sorry!" Kaz said breathlessly to the merchant, trying to replace the cabbages that had dropped. But the nervous boy miscalculated and overreached, losing his balance and crashing into the cart again, knocking over all the rest of the cabbages. They came raining down in a flurry of green blobs, rolling every which way into the street. Several unlucky pedestrians who hadn't been watching where they were going were tripped up by the flying vegetables. They fell, cursing, to the ground.

The cabbage man howled in disbelief and horror as Kaz nimbly leapt out of the way of the falling green balls.

"Why me? _Why me?_" The merchant clutched his head in his hands as if he were in extreme pain. "Every single time I get it all set up – I'll _never_ make a profit at this rate-"

Kaz blushed furiously and Katara fought to keep a smile off her face. For some reason, the cabbage man looked familiar to her. Had the last cabbage seller she, Sokka, and Aang had met been this same one?

Katara handed the merchant three full gold coins, enough to cover the cost of the vegetables and more. He was momentarily silenced by the sight of the money, and Katara took the opportunity to grasp Kaz by the arm and lead him off, laughing silently.

They spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the marketplace and asking questions of the civilians.

Had the Fire Nation army passed through here recently? Yes, how long ago? A few months? Would you mind telling us which way they went?

At the end of the day, Katara had managed to buy two healthy horses from a farmer for the price of two gold coins. She was overpaying him, as she hadn't bothered to bargain, but she was in a hurry and she had money to spend. The farmer had stared at the money in surprise, almost as if he hadn't been sure it was real. Then he'd scurried away, thinking that this was his lucky day.

Moving an entire army through a forest will leave obvious traces of your path. Chopped down trees for firewood, burnt-out campfires and human waste were all clear markers for Katara and Kaz to follow. Most of the traces were months old, but the two of them riding on horses moved much faster than an enormous army. Traveling with an army was like moving a mobile city, and it was slow-going, the way they had to set up camp every night, and take down camp every morning. They had to unpack wagons of supplies and repack them in the morning. It was a chaotic process.

A two-person team took much less time. They rode on horseback during the day, and at night, built a small campfire for the two of them, ate from the supplies Katara had purchased in the city, and slept. The next morning, they merely packed up their blankets and got back on horseback again.

During the days, they mostly rode in silence.

_What am I doing here?_ was the thought that swarmed Katara's mind most often. _What am I going to say once I see him again? I'm here to confront him about my brother. What if he admits it? What if he denies it?_

She desperately wanted him to deny it, even though in some deep dark part of her, she knew that the anonymous letter had spoken true. There had been too much evidence presented against Zuko.

But she wasn't willing to let go of her fairy-tale fantasy yet. The fantasy where she could give birth to a child who would grow up in a happy family. The fantasy where she would be able to stay with Zuko, and they would live _happily ever after_.

It was probably the stupidest thing she'd ever believed in. The possibility of a happily ever after for Katara was impossible. Less than zero.

Yet, she refused to let go of her dream. She refused to return to reality, even though the whole reason she was on this trip was because a stranger's letter had shown her the reality.

She was as stubborn as an ass. As gullible as the youngest child.

And worst of all, she was a foolish dreamer.

Foolish dreamers never had happily ever afters, even if their whole life was spent dreaming about a happily ever after.

In less than two weeks, Katara and Kaz were on the tail end of the traveling army. At night, they could see the soldiers' burning campfires and hear the noises of thousands of men living together and traveling together.

"When are we going to join the camp, Katara?" asked Kaz one late night. He would never say it out loud, but he was getting tired of waiting and watching.

Katara knew she'd been putting it off. She still didn't know what the hell she'd say to Zuko once she saw him again.

"We'll join them tomorrow," she said firmly, unrolling her blankets and settling on her side to sleep.

"Tomorrow." She repeated quietly to herself, as if saying it again would make it more of a possibility. As if saying it twice meant she couldn't go back on her word.

She told herself before drifting off to sleep that everything would work out alright tomorrow morning.

Everything would work out alright.

* * *

When one of his officers woke him up early one morning, Zuko's instant reaction was to pull out his sword in reflex, his other hand ready to Fire bend.

The officer gulped, pasty-faced, at the lethal point of a sword at his throat, and said in a hoarse voice, "You have a guest, your Majesty."

Zuko was extremely irritated, and lowered his sword. "You woke me up for a _guest_?"

"It's… it's a woman, my Lord."

Zuko could feel the blood drain from his face, and it took him awhile to find his voice. Was it who he thought it was…?

"Bring her in, then get out," he said. _Has she come to tell me, finally?_ After all these long months of waiting, would he finally find out the truth from her, face-to-face?

Oh, how he'd missed her.

He sat stock-still on his camp bed, and listened as the officer brought the "guest" inside, and left, closing the door flap behind him. Zuko strained, and he could hear the rustles and movements of the woman in the outer room of his tent. Was she sitting down? Was she standing? Was she as nervous as he was?

Taking a deep breath, he stood up and put his hand to the dividing flap between his room and the rest of the tent.

Pulling it back, he stepped into the dim light of dawn, and felt those two wonderful blue eyes lock onto his own amber ones.

"Hello, Zuko."

* * *

**A/N:** First off, if anyone bothered to read my profile, it explains there my long absence. I was on vacation for a week in California, without internet connection. I was going to update as soon as I got back.

But the day I did, I was seized with this unbelievable allergic attack. I have no idea what caused it, but the whole deal happened to me. Breaking out in hives and redness, pounding headaches, dry throat, the whole shebang. We're still trying to find out what caused it, because I've never been allergic to any foods in my entire life.

I've spent most of the last week doped up on Benadryl and other drugs, so it was kind of hard to tell the keyboard apart from the computer monitor. You understand, of course.

However, I was able to post two chapters today; one for this story, and one for my new story, _Love Thy Enemy_. Some reviewers already know I have a new story up, but I have to warn you:

**IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS FOR THATP, DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT READ THE NEW STORY.**

Because it is sort of a sequel, or at least it ties into THATP.

That's all, I'm done and I'm turning in to bed after ingesting a few more antihistamines and drugs of sorts. Oh, yeah, rejoice at the appearance of Cabbage Man. I managed to squeeze him in, but not in a very good fashion, I don't think.

Q&A Time:

**I'm going to ask you a few questions: How do you keep all of the names straight? Will the baby be taken from her? Why doesn't Zuko just kill Haung and Sakai off? When are you going to update?… Sry, if I sound way too friendly for my first review. –SnufflesWillRise  
**I keep all the names straight because I'm a super-smart genius (just kidding. I just sort of… do). And for all of you curious ones… ALL INFORMATION ABOUT THE BABY IS CLASSIFIED AND KEPT UNDER A THREE-PASSWORD, CODED, KEYLOCKED FILE ON MY COMPUTER. Try and break through that, fools! XD And Zuko can't just kill Huang and Sakai because… I already explained this in… Chapter 17, the war council scene. And I like friendly reviews. They're much better than mean ones. XD 

**It's a good thing for that author's note, because otherwise I would've been really confused as to why Katara trusted Jet. But if all you really wanted was someone from Katara's past whom she trusted, why not Haru, the Earthbender? –NybCR**  
This is all the way back in… Chapter 9, yes? Well the answer is because I had no idea Haru existed. Now that you say it though, it does seem like a logical choice. When I started writing this story, I had watched exactly one Avatar episode, and that was Waterbending Scroll. To this day, I've watched exactly two, including King of Omashu. I'm really winging it here guys, so thanks for all your generous support. XD

**One question: Didn't u once say that the money Katara gave Kaz went to the new baby's craddle? –Mushrambolover**  
Of course. Remember Kaz's mother is pregnant? That's going to be the new baby.

**ARGH! I just reread chap 19, and noticed that you mentioned a sequel to this story...that means a sad ending right? –Arwey**  
Yup. You're right… it's going to be sad. But I promise you the sequel WILL make up for it.

**And how did she get pregnant with Sora if Royan was in the war? –whomever  
**I was sort of basing it on the current military procedures. Soldiers get to come back every two years or so, depending on their contract and terms of leave. So, that's when the loving happens. Haha. As for the current baby… aw shit. I'm really stupid, aren't I? No explanation there. I thought more people would catch it but I think you're the only one… 

**Sakai and Huang have me confused... they're evil and all, but was the ending really an act? And how did Adia know if Katara was cloak-less this one time? –whomever**  
It was an act, yes. As for the Adia thing, that was a lie. Huang couldn't very well say "Well the ex-Admiral Zhao told us all about your wife's little condition." He had to make up something, right? Adia doesn't know a thing, still.


	22. Chapter 22: Freedom

**Chapter 22: Freedom  
**

"Why – why are you here?" His voice didn't sound like his voice. His eyes immediately zeroed in on the place where her stomach was supposed to be, but from the way she was sitting on the couch, he could see nothing. The dark red cloak draped over her slightly hunched shoulders and revealed nothing. Was she sitting like that on purpose? Did she know that he knew? What had driven her to come out here all the way to find him? A million questions raced through his mind.

_Tell me what I want to hear, Katara. Just tell me._ _This is your chance._

Her eyes probed him, searched every detail of his face and his posture, as if she was trying to find something. She was trying to find the lie in his body, the part of him that had made him betray her, or so that anonymous letter had said. She could find nothing but his utter astonishment as seeing her here. She couldn't read the Prince. Not after all these months of living together, of a certain not-so-unwilling captivity.

How many times had this happened before, to more people than anyone could count? You thought you knew someone, you thought you knew them down to the very core of their being. You thought you could predict their next move, feel their inner emotion, and understand their most private thoughts. You thought you knew someone so completely it was like you weren't even two different people anymore, that if you were any closer, you'd combine and become one single entity.

But in the end, you find out that you know absolutely nothing at all about them.

That you know nothing more than what you knew the first time you met.

That in each other's eyes, you are, and will always be, utter strangers.

_Tell me what I want to hear, Zuko. Just tell me._ _This is your chance._

She'd been dreaming, anticipating, and fearing this moment for the better part of three months. She'd been hungering for their reunion since the very morning he'd left. She'd thought up a million different ways they could meet again, all of them happy and joyous. She planned out fantasies from beginning to end, dictating their each and every word and touch and movement.

But now that she was here, her mind was empty.

"I got tired of the palace," she said.

It wasn't what she'd wanted to say, and it wasn't what he'd wanted to hear.

Inside, Zuko despaired. She wasn't ever going to tell him from her own mouth, was she? She was going to go on pretending, wasn't she?

Just as his heart was beginning to break, she stood up in one smooth fluid motion, and everything was revealed. The cloak (one of his, he noticed) slid aside and her smooth, rounded belly, filled with new life, could be seen.

His breath caught in his throat, and her eyes widened at the expression on his face.

Not one of _surprise_, but one of _confirmation_.

"You knew, didn't you?" she asked, eyes narrowed. "You knew!"

He nodded. What else could he say? His face had given away everything.

"Who told you? Who did you leave to spy on me?" her voice began to rise. The calm that had surrounded them earlier disappeared, and they were brought down to earth again. Earth, where ugly words and even uglier truths were always revealed in the end.

"Did you have me followed? Was it that guard? Did you not trust me?"

Trust. That was all it came down to in the end.

"Did you not trust _me_?" he retaliated. "Didn't you trust _me_ enough to tell me before I left? Don't you think I deserved to know?"

She ignored his questions. "So you did spy on me."

"When were you going to tell me?"

"When the moment was right, Zuko!"

"I deserved to know! When did you think the moment would be_ right_, Katara? When you went into labor?"

"I _was_ going to tell you! That morning you left – I was going to tell you then. Tell you everything," she finished rather lamely, and they both knew she was lying.

He stiffened inside. "After I heard of it, I wasn't even sure if the child was mine. I'm not sure, even now." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

She reacted as though he'd physically slapped her. Her body seemed to shake with fury as she realized what he was accusing her of.

"Tell me, Zuko, where was I eight months ago?" Her voice was barely controlled anger. "Tell me, who was the only human company I had when I was a prisoner?"

Too late, he realized his mistake, and tried to fix it. "Me. I didn't – I didn't mean to accuse you of anything – "

"But you _did_!" she almost shrieked. "You don't trust me!"

"You must understand – I thought that since you hadn't told me about it, you must be hiding for some reason." And what better reason than the fact that she might have gone behind his back and deceived him?

A change came over Katara, and her face smoothed over into a mask of calm serenity again. "Well now you know the truth," she said simply. This wasn't the way she'd planned to break the news to Zuko. With accusations and lies flying around them. This wasn't the way she'd wanted it to be.

But who said life ever played out the way we want it to?

"I brought my servant with me," she continued. "he's with our horses."

"You traveled with a servant?"

"Don't you think a pregnant woman traveling without help might seem a bit suspicious?" Katara asked. "Of course I could have handled myself, but Kaz was a good companion all the same."

"And _horses_? Where'd you get _horses_?"

"With your money," she said. "And Kaz is probably tired of standing around outside. It's be good manners to invite him in. We've been riding and camping outside for the better part of a week."

For some reason, he was oddly irritated by this. It was almost like she was subtly blaming_ him_ that she'd had to travel in such bad conditions, with a baby on the way, no less. Well, _he_ wasn't the one who'd wanted her to sail across half the world and ride to follow the army! It had been her own decision!

"Tell him to give the horses to my men," he said curtly. "They'll be well cared for. He can go to the cook tent and get some food if he wants."

Katara gave him an inscrutable look, before disappearing outside. Murmurs and the jingling of horse bridles floated in, before Katara reappeared again. Kaz was happily off to find a good, hot meal.

An uncomfortable silence descended upon them.

* * *

Katara knew that on the outside, she looked brisk, calm, and prepared for anything that was coming her way. She could deal with hot-tempered princes any day of the week, and her pregnancy slowed her down only a bit. She was in control.

On the inside, she felt like she was teetering on the edge.

The littlest push, and she would fall over.

"Have you met any of your enemies yet?" she asked in a polite tone.

Instantly, Zuko's eyes sharpened on her inquiring face. Did she know…?

_Impossible. She couldn't have found out about Juiko._

She continued to look at him. _Tell me the truth. Come on._

He shook his head.

_Please don't lie_.

"We haven't seen anybody at all," he said easily, sitting down on one of the many cushions littering the floor. "I'll bet they know we're coming, but we haven't had a single encounter with the enemy yet."

Katara wanted to cry.

But she just smiled. "I'm glad no one has died yet." _Bastard_.

They were being insufferably polite and courteous to each other. They were hiding their inner thoughts, unwilling to share a single true emotion with each other. Why? Was this what happened to couples after long separation? Would they have to start all over again, from the very beginning?

But not so. Zuko was the first to release himself as his neutral mask crumbled and he looked at her. Confusion, pain, and a sort of… pleading anguish. "Who's side are you on, Katara? Are you glad that no one from their side has died yet, or are you happy that my men are still alive?"

She looked at him in shocked silence for a moment. She hadn't expected this. "What are you talking about, Zuko? I'm glad _no one_ has died yet, whether they be Fire bender or Earth bender or a lowly servant."

She gave him another long look. "You are a human before you are a Fire bender, Zuko. A breathing person who has a right to live." A sideways glance. "I hope you'll think the same way of my people when you're on the battlefield."

That hit him harder than he'd expected. "So you know I'll be fighting Water benders?"

"Of course I do. People everywhere are saying this is the final battle. The one that will decide future countries. Or even future empires." She shrugged, a tense movement that had nothing to do with carelessness. Her voice was tight. "Water benders would certainly be in on the fight. My father joined the first few battles against _your_ father, several years ago, as allies to the Earth Kingdom."

"And this – this doesn't _bother_ you?"

"What do you think I am, a _monster_?" she snapped at him, fighting back tears. "Of course it bothers me, Zuko! The man I love and the people I love are fighting on opposite sides of the war! They are bent on destroying each other. You tell me how I should react!"

_You tell me where my brother is! You tell me if Juiko is still alive!_

Her look was a hallowed, haunted one. The look of someone who has just realized she has lost her way in a dark place and has no idea of how to get out again. "It's impossible for me to pick a side. Because picking one side means condemning the other."

Zuko looked at her calmly. "Pick the side you want to spend the rest of your life with. Pick the side that deserves your loyalty. Pick the side that you love most."

Hadn't he heard a single word she'd said so far? She was being pulled apart, straight down the middle. Divided equally. Pull her any further, and she knew she would give up and just _let go_.

If not for one thing. Her hand rested lightly on her distended abdomen.

"I'll pick the side that holds the most promise for my child," she said, as calm as if she hadn't just been debating death a few seconds before. "I'll pick the side that will be a safe home for my baby, that will give them a future." _After that, I won't care what happens to me_.

Zuko's response was automatic. "Then choose me, Katara."

_It's not that simple_.

"It's my child too," he said, an edge of persuasion in his voice. "You think I don't care? You think I wouldn't try to give him or her the best possible life available? The minute the baby is born, Katara, he or she will be _royalty_. Do you know what that means?" He was openly begging her to understand now.

"It means that our child won't go without food for a single day in their life. They won't know suffering, or pain, or loss. They will have _both_ parents to raise them and love them and teach them. Nobody would dare raise a hand to harm them, because the safety provided by the palace and the guards would be complete. They would live a life full of happiness. They would receive the very best education we could provide, with tutors and professors and teachers of all subjects. They would be _safe_. They would have a chance at _life_. And they would be _happy_. Don't you want our child to be _happy_, Katara?"

There was an underlying note of desperation in every single word he spoke. But all that he spoke of was possible, was _attainable_.

"Really, Katara, what more does a mother want other than the perfect life for her child?"

_Choose me, and our child will receive all of these, and more_.

It was heaven that he spoke of. A paradise. A true mother's dream.

Her eyes were fixed to his face, to the tempting promises he dangled in front of her, to the forbidden fruit he begged her to taste.

Everything he said was true. Everything he said could be provided for this baby. A wonderful life, free of pain and loss. A life that she never had.

And a life that the royal Prince Zuko never had.

_There's a flaw in your heaven, Zuko._ She thought inside. _If being a royal child is living in a paradise, then what happened to you? If everything you speak of is true, then how come you never had it?_

Zuko didn't realize that he was the living proof that all his promises were false and fake. His own childhood had not been heaven. His own life had been filled with pain and worry and loss. Although Katara knew that she couldn't base a royal child's life on the one example she'd ever met, she knew that things happened. Things could go wrong. And they always, inevitably, did.

_There is no such thing as a perfect life, my dear_.

_You've lied to me again._

_I wish I could believe you_.

"You'd be a fool not to take this oppurtunity for our child, Katara." Zuko whispered. "A heartless fool."

I am a fool.

"Do you promise me," her voice almost broke. "Do you promise me that all that you said will be given to our baby? Do you promise me that everything you've told me is true?"

"I promise it!"

_Empty promises are just as ugly as lies. Or are they, in the end, the exact same thing?_

She rose up in one fluid motion, one hand held to her belly. Crossing the empty space between them, she reach up on her toes and kissed him.

He kissed her back, desperate and pleading.

When she pulled away, she smiled serenely up into his face. "Thank you for helping me make my choice, Zuko."

The expression on his face was of utter joy and happiness. The expression of a man who has finally received what he's hungered for all his life. The returned love of the one he loves most, even more than himself.

He was in a euphoria. He was living his lifelong dream. He wasn't connected to reality anymore. Holding her close with one arm, he rested the other one on the child they'd created together.

"Everything will be alright, Katara," he whispered into her hair. "You'll see. Everything will be perfect."

* * *

In the dark of the night, she stroked his scarred face with one gentle hand. They were comfortable, even on the smaller bed Zuko used when on a war campaign. They fit perfectly against each other, as if separate piece of a puzzle finally connected again. Finally together again.

Wasn't this what she'd wanted for so long, ever since the day he'd left her in his palace? His sleeping presence next to her in bed? His deep, heavy breathing wrapped her in a languid, hazy cloud of warmth. Of comfort. Of safety. Of love.

His skin was always so… warm to her touch. Not unbearably hot. Just… warm. Did all Fire benders have this trait? Did they just have higher body temperatures because of their inner fire? Or was it just Zuko? Or was it just her own perception of him?

She was frigid cold in comparison.

He slept deeply, and did not wake, even though usually he woke the minute she shifted in bed. An inbred soldier's reflex. His sleep was complete. He wouldn't be waking up, not until the white sleeping powder released its hold on him.

The powder she'd slipped into his drink before going to bed earlier that night.

Her first betrayal of the night.

Before sleeping, he'd wrapped his arms around her, and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. Oh how he'd missed her.

"Are you sure you're all right?" He asked worriedly. "Your forehead feels so cold."

"I'm fine." She smiled up at him. "Good night."

He had yawned, long and hard. "Good night. Love you."

_Loveyou loveyou loveyou._

In less than a minute he was asleep.

She stared up into his scarred face, peaceful in sleep. Enfolded in his warm embrace, the comfort he offered her made the betrayal she was about to commit all the worse.

She extricated herself from his arms oh-so-gently, and reached for his neck. Down the collar of his loose shirt, she felt for the chain on which the key to her prison used to be kept.

Now it held the key to the Avatar's freedom, and her own future.

She brushed his throat, and suddenly her mind called up an image of herself, face consumed in grief, hands throttling his neck and strangling him in his sleep.

She might as well, compared to what she was about to do.

Katara slowly slid the chain up over his head, the ornate black key dangling from it. The flame-red ruby embedded in it's top winked accusatorily at her.

Her second betrayal of the night.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered. As if he could hear her. As if the words _mattered_.

_Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry_ echoed over and over again in her head like a mantra. And she knew he would never hear her.

Placing her bare feet on the cold ground inside the tent, she climbed from the bed and pulled on her cloak. The hood she draped low over her head.

A soft rustle and she was outside, gently closing the tent flap behind her. There were no guards outside the royal tent tonight; Zuko had excused them all, in order to have more privacy with her. How convenient. One more obstacle out of her way.

The air was biting cold, and a small breeze blew through the camp. The ground was slightly damp under her feet, and the remains of campfires were smoldering down to blackened lumps, the soldiers having turned in for the night. Except for those on sentry duty.

There were two things she needed to accomplish. She had to find them first… she was completely unfamiliar with the army's camp layout.

Well. She had all night to search. Time to waste.

The first goal she found in a short period of time. She skirted the camp's borders as quietly as possible. There would be quiet a bit of explaining if she was caught by a guard on duty.

When she found the two heads stuck on separate poles at the edge of camp, it was all she could do not to cry out in horror.

Of course, any defining features were long rotted away. Time did that to dead people. But she knew, without _looking_ or _seeing_, that one of them was a childhood crush, from the innocent days of her girlhood.

She would have liked to see him one last time. She would have liked to see the man he turned out to be. Maybe they could have been friends.

Maybe they could have been something more, if life had been different and she hadn't met Zuko and fell into that whirling, violent, headlong rush that was their love.

So many things could have been different. She could have made so many different choices, choices that would have landed her somewhere far away from here. She would spend the rest of her life wondering if she'd done this right, if she could have said something else here, and if that would have made it all better.

The dirty, ragged blue cloth fluttering slightly from one of the eyeless skulls brought to mind Zuko's earlier words.

W_e haven't had a single encounter with the enemy yet_.

Then who are these poor souls, Zuko? Your friends?

I'm so sorry you had to lie to me. Did you keep it a secret from me to avoid hurting my feelings? To avoid angering me? To avoid bringing me pain?

What do you think I am _now_?

She couldn't do anything more for her fellow countrymen, dead and spiked on a pole.

She turned and walked away, knowing that she still had one more person to visit before the night ended. After a bit of searching, she found an inconspicuous tent on the far, far edge of the camp, practically located in the dense woods. It was a small, normal thing, no different from any other soldier's tent. But it had two alert guards posted at the front entrance.

From what she could see, it was dark inside. No movement. No light.

Get it over with.

Katara stepped forward from the shadows of the trees into the dim light of the moon, pulling her hood back to reveal her face. Inside her cloak, her hand gripped the smooth hilt of a knife.

The two guards noticed her and one of them squinted to see her better in the dim lighting. Was it, was it a _woman_? Stark confusion showed on both of their faces. Had it been anyone else, they would have apprehended the intruder immediately, because under the orders of Lord Zuko, the important prisoner inside the tent was not to have _any_ visitors.

But a _woman_? There was a woman in the camp? Wait, was this the Lord Zuko's woman? They'd heard rumors circulating through the campfires tonight, about her mysterious sudden appearance. Was it really her? They were unsure of what to do. Maybe Lord Zuko had sent her on some sort of errand –

"Um – miss?" One of them raised a hand, looking clearly confused, and hesitated.

"The Fire Lord has granted me permission to speak to the prisoner," she said in a low voice.

They gave each other uncertain looks. Had it been anyone else except for her, they would have adamantly refused the request, since their orders had been specific: No one other than the Fire Lord was to see the prisoner inside the tent.

But here she was, the woman everyone had been whispering about. She was the famous best friend and traveling companion of the Avatar. For more than half a year, after the Fire Lord had captured her, she'd stayed with his Majesty at the palace. Some said she was a Water bender who had crossed over to the side of the Fire Nation because of an argument she'd had with the Avatar. Some said she was a woman not to be trusted, a spiteful traitor who sold information about the Water Tribe army's inner workings to the Fire Lord for the small price of her personal safety. Some said the Lord Zuko was unhealthily obsessed with her, and kept her around for… reasons.

The most amazing rumors, the ones fearfully whispered into ears by gossips afraid to be caught with the words on their lips, seemed impossible. These rumors were quickly hissed and then left to simmer in the minds of the people.

Some said she was to be the mother of the next heir to the Fire Nation. Some said she was already with child.

Outrageous. The people of the Fire Nation would never accept a ruler of _mixed blood_. It was blasphemy just to _think_ about it.

But whichever rumors were true, it didn't matter because her uncanny blue gaze was making the two guards uncomfortable. She carried the weight of the Fire Lord's word with her. The soldiers looked at each other again, neither wanting to be the first to deny or admit her request.

"The Lord Zuko will not be happy to hear that I was detained." Her lofty, cold voice seemed to ring in the guards' ears.

They finally, reluctantly, stepped aside. Their fear of their lord's punishment won out over their common sense.

Inside her cloak, Katara's trembling hand released its death-grip on the knife. She was thankful it hadn't come to that.

She ducked in under the tent flap, and as it closed behind her, it seemed she was in a whole other world, just her and the twelve-year-old boy sitting behind the metal bars of the cage, staring back at her. None of the usual nighttime sounds permeated through the tent canvas. No crickets chirping, no grass rustling, no nocturnal birds cooing.

Just the still silence that filled a lifetime's worth of space between her and the Avatar.

"Katara," he said finally. "What are you doing here?"

He couldn't have been speaking above a mere whisper, but the sound of his childish voice seemed to fill her ears and rush into her head, beating back every other thought.

She stared at him, the key to his prison in one hand, and the knife in the other.

It occurred to her, absentmindedly, that she was writing history. Every single action she did after this moment would determine the course of world events. Every word she spoke would decide whether it was peace or war people would see.

In one hand, she held the trust and friendship of the world-famous Avatar, the man fated to save the world.

In the other hand, she held the love and devotion of the Fire Lord, the man fated to conquer the world.

Twist one, pull the other, and they would respond like puppets to her manipulation, and people all over the Earth would sob with grief or cry with happiness.

It wasn't the Avatar or the Fire Lord who would determine history.

It was _her_, a little slip of a no-name girl from a grubby little tribe situated on a clod of dirt called an island.

It was _her_, Katara, who had the power now to kill or let live.

She wondered, with a sort of desperate amusement, how many other women in the world would kill to be in her position, to have her power, to have the absolute trust and love of these two powerful people.

Probably hundreds.

But the one who had to make the choice was Katara, the one who never wanted and never aspired to have it in the first place.

_I was never meant to be here. Whatever was supposed to happen to me, this wasn't it. I'm sure of it. I was never meant to be here._

_I don't want to be here._

School children of the future would study history books and learn about the great Avatar and fearsome Fire Lord. They would hear about the lives and deaths of both famous men, and they would make their own conclusions as to who was right and who was wrong. They would study the war strategies the Fire Lord made, and they would read about the escapades and adventures of the Avatar.

No where in those history books would anyone ever mention a girl named Katara. Maybe there'd be a small footnote at the bottom of the page saying _One of the Avatar's two traveling companions was a Water bender. We don't know what happened to her afterwards and we don't really care._

Oh, well. She supposed that was the way life was. She didn't need recognition or fame to be happy. The things she did need for happiness were out of her reach, anyways. No use wanting something she could never have. She would just have to do what she could do in order to improve the lives of total strangers around the world. She couldn't exactly do that – but she knew the boy who could.

"Hello, Aang," She tried not to cry. "I'm here to set you free."

He quietly sat in his prison as she smoothly pushed the black key into the lock, twisted it, and pulled open the door. Slowly and surely, Aang crept out of the small metal cage where he'd been imprisoned for so long, like a mere animal.

"Katara – " Aang began.

"Shh," she said, not ungently. "There are still guards outside."

He looked at her, or what he could see of her in the darkness. Where had she been? What had she been doing the entire time he'd been stuck in his cell, and then this cage? Her dark hair was clean, recently washed. Her face was healthy, filled-out. The red cloak she wore was of good heavy cloth – he'd felt it as he crawled out of his cage. She shifted, and he saw yet another glint of red underneath. She was wearing all red. Fire Nation colors.

He could also see the swell of her stomach on her otherwise slim frame.

She knew he saw.

"It's his, isn't it?" he asked softly.

She smiled, the kind of smile that meant the only alternative was crying.

Aang didn't hear her say yes, but he didn't hear her say no either. Had it been rape? Or had she been… willing, no matter how preposterous the idea was? He supposed the surprise and shock and horror – _pregnant with Zuko's child – _would come later, but now he was merely numb. After those long, countless days inside his prison, he was finally (but not entirely) free.

"Are you alright?" Katara asked him.

He knew she definitely wasn't feeling alright. But he, on the other hand, was fine, physically, emotionally, and mentally. Or so he told himself.

"I'm fine," he said, trying to reassure her.

Neither of them wanted to move first from this dark, warm shelter. An odd sense of security seemed to envelope them, the security of a safe haven, a mighty stronghold, a mother's womb.

There were things going on here that were bigger than the both of them. There were things going on here that neither of them could fully understand, or could really describe in words.

"Do – do you love him?" He asked. Aang had no idea where the question had come from, but somehow, it seemed like an important thing to ask. Something he had to know before he left. He waited for her to get angry at him, or to burst into tears.

_You can lie to me if you want, Katara_.

She stared at him. He was so young, but he seemed to know so much. Could he read her as easily as a learned scholar read a book? Could he read her mind? It wouldn't surprise her if that was another unknown talent of the great Avatar. Maybe he was just really sensitive.

Her first reaction was to deny everything vehemently, to slap him and shake her head side-to-side.

But she couldn't lie to him, not now, not at the end of everything.

He was the Avatar. He deserved better than a lie. He was her friend, and that was the real reason why he deserved the truth.

"Yes." She was glad to find her voice didn't shake.

"Oh." He looked at her with a sort of something in his eyes… not anger, and not disgust. Pity.

A strange force of irritation and annoyance welled up inside her chest. _Why are you looking at me like that? I don't need your pity. You think because you're the all-powerful Avatar you understand everything, even love, but you don't understand this you never will. Don't feel sorry for me, because I won't feel sorry for myself. You're fucking twelve. What would you know?_

She was fucking sixteen. What would she know?

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

Like every other teenager in the world, she thought that at a certain age, she knew everything there was to know about the world. She thought she was mature, learned, an adult. She thought she was responsible and experienced. She thought she knew love, and she thought she knew life.

_But don't I?_ She thought to herself. _Haven't these past few months – haven't all the things that have happened to me, changed me and made me more than an immature girl? Don't I know things now? Don't I have the experience that changes a person into a full-grown adult?_

Whichever she was, teenager or adult, she was fucked.

"We gotta get you out of here," Katara said, turning to the opening. "You have to be gone before they know you're – "

A light touch on her arm made her stop again. She didn't want to look at him anymore. She didn't know how much longer she could keep from crying.

"You're coming with me, right?" His eyes were earnest and hopeful. "You're going to come with me, and then we'll find Sokka together, right?"

She spoke as if she hadn't heard his question. "Just northeast of this camp is the Earth Kingdom army. They'll take you in and treat you with respect once they know who you are. My people will be there as well, and most likely in the next few weeks there will be battle. I don't know how far away they're encampment is – probably a week's worth of traveling. If you fly, it'll be quicker. Remember, northeast."

"_You're coming with me, right?_"

Katara smiled as if she was making a joke. She waved a hand towards her abdomen. "With this thing? I'll just slow you down Aang. You can't run and fight when I'm dragging you down. I'll be weak and I won't provide very much protection."

"If we made it, you could give birth among your people. Among people who love you. Among people who know you. "

That tantalizing idea gripped Katara's heart like a vise, and she almost choked. To be able to give birth to her child among the Water Tribe, with the help of traditional midwives and healers, people who had experience with labor and women who would soothe her brow and calm her, because her mother wasn't here to do that. The longing rose undeniably strong inside her. _Among people who love you_.

But if she went, she would compromising Aang's position. No doubt the Fire Nation would immediately know of his absence, and would send out enormous search parties to comb the area for him. If he dragged a pregnant woman along, they'd have to stop frequently to rest, they'd have to run much slower, and they would leave obvious tracks a blind man could follow.

"Come on, Katara –"

"_No_." She almost snapped. She was being angry because what she wanted was out of her reach, because she had to make this sacrifice for so many other people out there. "No, you have to go by yourself. It's the only way you'll survive –"

"Will he hurt you?" Aang cut her off. His eyes bored into her own. "Will he hurt you once he finds out?"

She opened her mouth to say _no, of course not_, it was on the tip of her tongue and then it seized her that she might be lying if she said it. She choked on the words, swallowing them back down, down, down where Aang wouldn't be able to hear them.

Would Zuko – would his temper… would he – She refused to think about it, even though she already knew the likely answer.

Katara could still feel Aang's gaze on her face. If she lied and said no, he would be satisfied and leave her here with the idea that she would be fine. If she told the truth and said _I'm not so sure_, the equivalent of saying _yes_, then he would continue to persuade her to leave with him and they would attract the attention of the guards.

"Of course not, Aang." She said, eyes bright. "I'll be fine. It's you I'm worried about. You're the one who needs to get away as fast as possible. Get away and defeat the Fire Nation and free the world and then we'll see each other again, how about that?"

He nodded slowly, appeased for the moment. She held in a sigh of relief.

"If I knew where your staff was, I would get it for you and you could fly. But I think maybe you'll just have to run very fast until you find another method of traveling," she continued to whisper. He listened attentively as she shoved a small parcel into his arms. "Food, but only enough to last for a few days. I couldn't steal anymore."

He just said a quiet thank you.

Katara continued to speak. She was starting to get more and more nervous. Time seemed to have sped up between them. "When I say go, you are going to rush out of this tent as _fast_ as you possibly can. Do you hear me, Aang? As fast as you've ever run in your life, so the soldiers won't be able to grab you. Run into the forest and keep running until you're positive no one is following you anymore. I'll stay behind and distract them. Do you understand?"

He nodded frantically.

"As fast as you can possibly run. Use your Air bending."

"Okay."

She shifted until she was crouching behind him, and placed a hand lightly on his back. He tensed, his legs ready to spring up at any moment. Then he seemed to have a moment of hesitation.

"Katara –"

"_Go_!" She cried, and shoved him forward.

He slammed forward through the tent opening like a whirlwind. She rose quickly on her feet and ran outside, significantly slower.

The wind left behind by Aang was whipping through the air, and Katara had to squint to see through the dust. Everything was blurry, but there was a split second where she felt like she was standing in the eye of a storm.

In this tiny space of time, she saw one of the guards reach out and leap at the flickering end of Aang's shirt as the boy ran by – the soldier seemed to grip the yellow cloth – Aang's expression turned from determination to horror – he was slowing down – caught, all she'd given up would be gone to waste – no she wouldn't let it she wouldn't let it happen –

– and she stepped forward, side-on to the guard, and smoothly slid the knife in her fist upwards between that soldier's ribs.

It was the easiest thing she'd ever done in her life.

No time wasted making decisions, lamenting right and wrong. Just step, shift, and slide in, like slipping through warm silk. That warmth dripped down her hand, just black liquid, colorless, in the dark of the night.

It felt red.

She let go of the knife, feeling like the whole world had slowed down for this one moment, before it hit her like a solid wall in her face and everything flew back in a rush.

"_Run, Aang, run!_" She screamed, screamed with all her might and the boy she'd killed for sped off into the night. The dead guard keeled over at her feet after making his last choking, gurgling noise, the second soldier stepping back in shock and confusion.

Katara stared at her hands with dull eyes. They were entirely covered in that black, slippery substance. What was it called again? Oh yes, blood. That was it.

She could hear the remaining guard had scrambled off, shouting and yelling. The entire camp seemed to have woken up. They must all have heard her screams and the little drama that had taken place next to the jail tent, which was now devoid of its only occupant. Campfires and torches flared into being behind her, illuminating her black silhouette against the fire light. Now she could see the color on her hands. Brilliant and eye-catching.

It all passed in a daze. Officers and other soldiers ran up where she stood stock-still on the dirt, murmuring to themselves and looking shocked as anything when they discovered that yes, the Avatar was gone. A small crowd formed, then left to report to superiors, and then formed again.

Seemingly gentle hands grasped her arms and elbows, one on each side. Why were they being so kind? Why weren't they hitting her? Why weren't they punishing her? They should be screaming and punching. She'd killed someone. She deserved to be mistreated.

But those hands just moved her forward over the ground, over the ground and towards the largest tent in the camp, the biggest one, the one where he was probably already awake and had heard the news from his officers…

As they drew closer, she noticed that the interior of the tent was brightly lit with fire lamps, and there was one figure inside, one figure with his hair tied high and pacing back and forth and back and forth like he was thinking on some hard decision, a hard decision that might cost people their lives.

Those gentle hands pushed her through the tent flaps, into that glowing interior and everything seemed to settle in place as his eyes shot up and pinned her down, pinned her down like she was drowning in fire.

* * *

**A/N:** Was originally going to encompass the entire ending, but I decided to cut it into three chapters, as it got way too long. 

Um... the document where I kept everyone's questions and the answers I wrote got deleted accidentally, so if you had something that was important (like I'm going to die if you don't answer this important), ask again. Although some questions may have been answered already.

Sorry about the spoilers thing again - I should've given more warning. As of now, I'm not updating Love Thy Enemy until this is done.


	23. Chapter 23: Lead Me Through the Fire

**Chapter 23: Lead Me Through The Fire**

**Heaven bend to take my hand and lead me through the fire  
****Be the long awaited answer to a long and painful fight**

"So," he started, a twisted smile on his twisted face. "how long have you been planning this, Katara?" They were alone again.

A vise seemed to grip her throat, but she knew she owed it to him to speak up, to say anything, to try and justify herself. "I wasn't," she said. "I wasn't planning this—I haven't been planning anything—"

He laughed, dry and dead. "I might have believed you, two hours ago."

She just stared at him. What was there to say? He stood ramrod-straight, his hands clasped behind his back, feet shoulder-width apart. Head high, chin up, eyes like fire. He stared back, across the room at her. She was still standing next to the tent door, both hands at her side, one dripping red onto the rugs on the floor. The fire light threw shadows throughout the tent, flickering on the blood she refused to see.

What did she look like to him? Defeated? Sad? Sorry? She hoped she looked sorry. She hoped he could see it, because she really was sorry. Sorry about everything that had to happen, sorry about everything she had to do, sorry about what had become of the two of them.

**Truth be told I tried my best but somewhere along the way****  
****I got caught up in all there was to offer  
but the cost was so much more than I could bear  
****  
**In the silence, she thought back, back the entire long journey they'd taken. Back to that first night when he'd caught her, brought her into a whole new world, separated her from her friends and family. She'd had no idea what was coming to her. She'd thought she was going to live in a cage for the rest of her short life.

But he'd surprised her, completely blown apart every idea of "Fire Prince Zuko" she'd held in her head before their encounter.

So many things had happened between them that Katara had been whisked off her feet and thrust into a thundering maelstrom of people and events and deaths and lives. It had rocked her world and shaken her until all she could do was hang on and just hope to come out of the other end alive.

But here she was, at the end of everything, still breathing and blinking and talking. Didn't that mean you were alive?

**Though I've tried I've fallen I have sunk so low  
I messed up, better I should know****  
****So don't come round here and tell me I told you so**

From the minute he'd been born, Prince Zuko had worked and sweated and strived to be everything his father and his country had wanted him to be. They wanted him to learn to read and write when he was still a toddler. So he did it, staying up late and staring at the elegant calligraphy letters that began to swim in his vision, staying up so late until he thought his eyeballs would implode from the strain. But he got it. He read everything he could get his hands on, from centuries-old tax documents to present-day essays and the writings of historians.

They wanted him to learn to Fire bend, to control the flame so he could hurt people and protect others. So at age six he stopped playing little games with the tumbling orbs of fire he liked to juggle and throw and laugh at. He began to spend hours in the training arena every day, going through hundreds upon hundreds of drills.

Then had come the painstaking, back breaking eternity of meditation. His childish self had disdained the calm, motionless practice at first, wanting to be outside running in the bright sunlight. In time, under the guidance of his uncle, he came to understand it and even look forward to the rest and relaxation and escape from everyday trials that meditation could give him.

Physical, hand-to-hand combat he learned, suffering bruises and on occasion, broken bones from his father, his various instructors, and once in awhile his uncle. Swordsmanship and spear throwing and archery were all on his list of Princely Things To Learn. And learn them he did.

But the things that hadn't been on that list, were these:

Friendship. The ability to laugh and talk and cry with somebody other than one's self. The companionship of a fellow human being, to ease the sorrowing loneliness that came with life. Uncle Iroh had taught him this in his own way, but, some would say, Iroh had been much, much too late in Zuko's life.

Compassion. The ability to care and touch something other than one's self. The deep, undying awareness of somebody's else's suffering and the soul-rending wish to relieve it. To sympathize with others, to feel empathy for somebody else's situation. To be a good ruler, compassion was necessary in order to aptly care for and govern one's subjects. But somewhere along the way, Ozai had forgotten about this useless little emotion.

Love.

**We all begin with good intent, when love is raw and young****  
****We believe that we can change ourselves, the past can be undone****  
**

Katara tried to remember what she had thought in the beginning of all this. What had she expected of him? She'd jumped feet first into murky water, unknowing if she would ever come out on top again. She'd gone in with the idea of I Can Change Him and We Can Start Over, naïve little ignoramus that she was.

She'd thought that their violent history didn't matter if they could just _be together  
_**  
**So what if their countries had been at war for almost a century? So what if their families were mortal enemies? So what if there was no chance for the both of them?

She'd truly thought they could forget the past and change the future.

What had happened to that hopeful girl?

**But we carry on our back the burdens time always reveals****  
****In the lonely light of morning, in the wound that would not heal**

Just when they had found oblivious happiness with each other, he'd gone and left to fight in the war. In the loneliness of his absence, Katara remembered why she was here. Why she'd been captured in the first place.

To be used. A means to an end. A pawn in his obsession, his quest for something greater. It was something she'd conveniently forgotten when she'd started to—oh yes—"fall in love".

The cliché phrase rang in her ears now like a mockery.

What had she given up in order to "love"?

Her principles. Her morals. Everything her parents had taught her about Right and Wrong. Her mission. Her goals. Her dreams. Her friends.

_Aang I'm so sorry for what I did._

In essence, she'd stopped being Katara when she Fell In Love.

One part of her deluded mind still tried to justify her foolish actions. Isn't that what being in love meant? Sacrificing a part of yourself for something bigger? Giving up certain things in order to meet the needs of the one you love most? And in return, your loved ones will give back, will accommodate _your_ needs in a perfect symbiotic relationship. It will all work out.

Except it hadn't.

**It's the bitter taste of losing everything****  
****I've held so dear**

Her pregnancy had been the first clue. The desperate realization of _What have I done?_

The second one had been Zuko leaving for war. The crippling hurt that something was more important to him than her. That she sacrificed so much for him but he didn't think the same. That she did not come first.

Aang did.

How ironic, to be so jealous of a twelve-year-old boy who held more of Zuko's attention than she had. In a secret, disgusting part of her mind, sometimes she knew she wished that Aang didn't exist. Because if he didn't, then all these complications involving Zuko wouldn't exist. Then her guilt about loving Zuko wouldn't exist.

But if the Avatar didn't exist, then a free world wouldn't exist.

And, she would never have met Zuko if not for Aang.

How ugly of her to think that way, to place _meeting Zuko_ before _free world_ in importance?

The third; that evil, lie-spewing letter that had bared everything to the light. She could remember reading it, the freezing cold that had stolen over her mind, numbing her to anything outside of _Sokka thrown out_ and _Juiko dead_. Then the confirmations from her guard and from Kaz that had cemented everything that she never wanted to believe.

It was this barrage of blow after blow after blow that she reeled back from and couldn't seem to regain her footing.

**Heaven bend to take my hand, I've nowhere left to turn****  
****I'm lost to those I thought were friends, to everyone I know****  
**

With nowhere left to go, she'd gone to the last person on earth with whom she could redeem herself.

Aang.

In the act of freeing him, she tried to find a way to free herself. To salvage her pride and her dignity. To save the last vestiges of Katara The Girl.

Had it worked? That remained to be seen as she waited for the judgment the Fire Lord would pronounce on her. As she waited to see if Zuko would still love her.

"Talk," he said. "Tell me you think what you did was justified. Tell me you think what you did was _right_. Tell me that you're sorry!" And now he was almost begging her for her apology.

So she gave it to him. "I'm sorry." She hoped he knew she meant it, that she wasn't saying it just to satisfy him. Although wasn't that the whole nature of an apology? To satisfy the one you've wronged? To hope that two simple words would make right everything you did wrong? It was all about satisfying the person.

Until it came to the point when you knew there wasn't anything left in your power to make them happy.

Zuko seemed to seize upon her sorry little admission like a frenzied man. "You're _sorry_? Your apology doesn't mean a thing to my country! It won't mean a thing to my advisors and commanders when I tell them that I lost the Avatar because of _you_! It doesn't mean a thing to _me_!"

Strangely, she felt disconnected with all those things he was spewing on about. Avatars, countries, advisors, war commanders, Fire Lords. What did it really mean to her anymore?

She was so tired of satisfying everybody else's needs.

For once, she wanted to think about herself, and _only_ about herself. Not the wishes of some all-powerful Avatar or whiny older brother or desperate Fire Lord.

Only Katara.

So call her self-centered. See if she cares.

"_You _don't mean a thing to me," she said. The minute she said it, she knew it was a lie.

And he hit her, so fast she almost missed it until the pain rocketed through her skull from the side of her head. She reeled, and didn't hold out her hands to cushion her fall. In that split second after the impact of his fist she felt the ground rising up to meet her and she _let_ herself fall, thinking _it feels so good to finally fall for real—_

She hit the ground, but not before one corner of his writing desk drove into her abdomen, a fire spreading through her lower belly and into her heart.

She thought, _oh my_, as a wet splash of water broke inside and hit her thighs, the result of a fiery pain.

Katara lay there on the ground, body and mind numb, that hot-cold stream of water running down her leg. _Is it red?_

Zuko came closer, and almost as if moving in slow motion, he knelt beside her on the ground and stroke her hair gently; oh so gently.

"It doesn't make me feel better to hit you," he whispered as if it were a secret meant for her ears only.

She smiled and thought, _You've finally figured it out, my dear. I'm so proud of you._

But all she said was "The baby is coming."

His hand froze on her brow. "It's too early," he stated almost stupidly. "It can't; it's too early."

She just shook her head and smiled.

Now he could see the wet stain spreading under her, seeping into the mats and rugs and pillows. Not urine—it was not the smell of waste, but a deeper, richer thing that flitted at the edge of his senses.

"He's not going to wait," she said.  
**  
****Oh they turn their heads embarrassed, pretend that they don't see****  
****That it's one wrong step one slip before you know it****  
****And there doesn't seem away to be redeemed**

* * *

Zhao strode into the camp, a shorter figure following next to him. The ex-admiral frowned at the sight that greeted him. The camp was a disorganized chaos, a jumble of lighted torches and shouting men. Was this what the great Fire army had come to under the rule of the new Fire Lord Zuko? Or was something else going on? 

He stopped, his follower almost running into him.

Zhao grabbed the nearest passing soldier and demanded, "What is going on here?"

The terrified soldier took one look at the tall warrior in Fire Nation uniform who spoke with an awe-inspiring commanding tone and thought _authority_.

"The Avatar!" he squeaked. "The Avatar has escaped!"

A second passed as Zhao's face transformed from shock to anger to glee. _This could work for me if I pull the right strings_.

The ex-Admiral released the soldier who choked before scurrying off into the madness. Sokka threw off his cloak hood and stepped closer to Zhao. "Aang's escaped?" he said incredulously. "How?"

Zhao shrugged stiffly. "How would I know? I just found out, same as you did." The Water tribe boy was getting annoying. Zhao would be happy to see him go once his plan came to fruition.

Sokka stood still for a moment, going over this new information in his mind. Aang was free; that was good. But it might have been better if both Katara and Aang were in the same place at the same time. It would have made Sokka's rescue plan a bit easier. But no matter; once Sokka got Katara out of here, they could both go look for and join the Avatar.

"Where is the Fire Lord?" Sokka asked Zhao persistently. "We gotta find my sister first!"

Zhao shrugged him off. He had things to learn first. "We must meet with two of my contacts before we charge headlong into the Fire Lord's tent," he said brusquely. "We must know information and be prepared."

Sokka gaped but followed obediently. Be prepared for what?

Zhao ducked into a medium-sized tent, shadowed closely by Sokka. Inside were two men who were obviously related (father and son?) with one older and graying and one younger and energetic.

"Is this your… partner?" The older man stared at Sokka suspiciously.

Zhao smiled. "He is her brother," he said smoothly.

"Ah." The older man's face broke into a calculating smile. It wasn't pleasant to see, as Sokka shivered slightly. "Sokka. I am Huang, and this—" he pointed to his younger look-alike, "—is my son Sakai."

"Pleased to meet you," said Sokka stiffly.

Zhao, glad the pleasantries were over with, got right to it. "The Avatar's escape. What do you know of it?"

"It wasn't a one-man effort," Sakai supplied.

"Nor was it a one-_woman_ effort, is what I'm thinking," Huang interjected, with an almost scary sense of glee.

"She's in the Fire Lord's tent this moment," said Sakai. "doing what, we have no idea."

"Except for the fact that the Fire Lord's wrath isn't something to be taken lightly." Huang said.

Sokka felt sick to his stomach. So they thought Katara had let Aang go, and was now in trouble with Zuko for it. Made sense to him. But if Katara was in harm's way—

He made to leave the tent, but Zhao's iron grip on his arm stopped him. Huang and Sakai looked at him with an open curiosity.

"No rash moves," Zhao said, pulling the younger boy back. "We need a plan."

"What plan is needed?" Sakai said, almost crowing. "He'll kill her for what she's done, no doubt about it. What else do we need to know?"

Zhao and Huang exchanged a look as if to say, _these young people. Always rushing to make mistakes_.

"We need a plan, Sakai, a plan to bring the Fire Lord down." Huang said.

"We'll have him go down in history as the Fire Lord who let victory slip through his fingers because of his obsession with one woman!" Zhao said, eyes glinting with amusement. "He'll be known as an insane fool who's priorities are mixed up."

"Insane is a good one to go with," Huang said. "We'll say the Fire Lord went crazy."

"An unfortunate trait that runs in the bloodline," Zhao mused. "Anybody born from the family won't be able to be trusted with the country."

"So we'll need a new ruler, a new dynasty!" Sakai said, finally understanding.

"A new ruler… Fire Lord of the world, once we get this Avatar business cleared up," Zhao said dismissively, then smiled. "How does Fire Lord Zhao sound?"

"With High Advisor Huang by his side?" Huang reminded the ex-Admiral.

"And Commander Sakai," said the younger man, almost swooning with the possibilities.

"It's a good plan," said Zhao.

"A good plan," agreed Huang.

Sokka stood stock-still, amazed at the mere idea that these three men were plotting the death of their monarch who was not three tents away. Ambition can reward handsomely, but more often than not, it kills.

A harsh, almost animal-like scream pierced the night air and rendered the entire camp silent.

Every thought flew from Sokka's mind as he recognized that voice that had yelled at him so many times for teasing her, for not letting her play with him, for leaving his clothes all over the house floor.

Zhao, Huang, and Sakai froze in mid-conversation.

Then the Fire Lord's voice rang out over the shocked camp. "I need all the physicians and doctors in here _now_," he commanded with authority.

Talk began and messengers were dispatched to find the healers. All four men in Huang's tent poked their heads out and in the darkness could see doctors wearing the white of their profession being hustled and hurried towards the enormous tent belonging to the Fire Lord.

Zhao and Huang exchanged one look and nodded at each other.

"You stay here. I'll take Sokka with me to see what's wrong." Zhao said solemnly.

Huang retreated back inside, smiling as he thought of what was to come. He almost wanted to be in the Fire Lord's tent when Sokka found out exactly what sort of condition his sister was in. Oh, it'd be a night to remember.

* * *

Zuko could see his life crumbling before him as he paced the outer room of his tent, the hushed whisperings of the five doctors coming from the inner room where Katara lay in painful silence on his bed. After her first ear-shattering scream, she'd fallen silent. Whether it was from strength of will that she refused to let a sound past her lips or whether she just found no need to scream, Zuko didn't know. 

First the Avatar gone.

Then the realization that Katara had betrayed him.

And now this.

He was just about to flip aside the curtain divider to check on Katara for the millionth time (much to the annoyance of the physicians), when two new guests entered from the outer door.

Zuko froze, one hand between the curtains as the two people he least wanted to see at this moment came in.

Zhao, and Katara's brother. His archenemy, and the boy who most definitely wanted him dead for "defiling" Katara.

Which one was more dangerous?

"Zhao!" Zuko hissed, whirling back to face his unwelcome guests. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I heard you were having some trouble with the Avatar," Zhao said greasily, in a calm voice as if everything was right with the world. "Thought you might want a bit of help."

Before Zuko could retort that he definitely didn't need any help from an ex-Admiral fallen from honor, Sokka spoke up.

"Where's my sister?"

"She's inside," Zuko waved one hand at the dividing curtain, "and she's busy. You can't see her right now."

"She's _busy_?" Sokka's response was incredulous. "She's _hurt_, that's what she is! The entire camp heard her scream! And you can't stop me from seeing her!"

Zhao crossed his arms, a waiting smirk on his face as Zuko realized what Sokka was about to do. The Water tribe boy moved to part the curtains but not before the Fire Lord leaped in front of him and shoved him back.

"I said _not now_!" Zuko hissed.

"I don't have to listen to you!" Sokka yelled before scrambling back up.

Zhao merely watched from his corner. So far, everything was going exactly the way he wanted it. Sokka was consumed with worry about his sister. As a result of that, he was getting angry at the Fire Lord.

Love. Such an easy emotion to twist and use.

_Zhao brought Sokka here for a purpose_, Zuko thought to himself, watching the older man from one corner of his eye. _There's something else going on here_.

But before any of the men could make a move, a weak voice came from the other side of the curtains.

"Sokka? Are you there?"

Both Zuko and Sokka froze at the sound of Katara's voice.

"I'm here to get you out," said Sokka, almost weak with relief at the fact that his sister was still alive and lucid enough to recognize his voice.

Then she surprised him. "Not yet, Sokka."

"_What?_"

"Not yet. I'll be ready to leave in a few hours but I need the doctor's help right now."

Sokka's voice was almost childish in its questioning. "What do you mean, Katara? Can't I come in and see you?"

"No," her voice was firm. "I'm—I don't look too good right now."

"It doesn't matter—"

"No, Sokka." Katara's voice was getting fainter and fainter, yet it was still firm in her urgency. "Promise me you won't come in, no matter what you hear, until I say so. Do this for me, please."

Sokka stood so still, his eyes focused at the origin of Katara's voice, his body almost straining to get up and go. Then his shoulder's slumped in defeated agreement. "Alright. I promise."

"Thank you," she whispered through, so softly they could barely hear it.

Sokka slouched onto one of the cushions littering the floor, closing his eyes as he settled in for the wait. Zuko stood, head still cocked for any further notices from Katara.

Zhao grimaced. It was all going wrong at the last second! Sokka was supposed to find out about his sister's condition, then grow so angry at Zuko that the Water tribe boy killed the Fire Lord. Then Zhao would kill Sokka in a fake fit of rage at the death of his monarch. After that, both Katara and the baby would die of mysterious complications.

He hadn't counted on Katara intervening. He hadn't counted on how Sokka loved his sister so much that he would do what she said, even as she lay hurt in another room.

And Zhao couldn't just straight out and _tell_ Sokka that his sister was pregnant with the Fire Lord's child, and probably currently giving birth. Sokka had to see with his own eyes, come to the conclusion by himself, to fully reach the level of anger needed to kill the Fire Lord.

Zhao uncrossed his arms and stood straight up. Fine. Then he'd have to do everything himself.

He would kill the woman and the baby first. Because it wasn't the brother or the Fire Lord who presented the most danger to Zhao. It was the unborn child. Because the minute that baby was born, every chance of the throne "accidentally" falling into Zhao's hands would disappear. Once the baby was born, he or she would be the definite heir to the crown of the Fire Nation, and Zhao would pass into miserable obscurity forever. Kill the child and the woman in one stroke, and then take care of Zuko and Sokka. He would do it now, fast enough so that once the Fire Lord and Sokka realized what Zhao was doing, they'd both be too late.

Zuko caught the quick flicker of movement as Zhao's hands moved into position for one of the many Fire bending techniques used to deliver a quick blow to a person's vital organs. The Fire Lord moved to defend himself, sure that Zhao would attack him first, then kill Sokka and Katara.

But Zhao bypassed Zuko without a second glace, hands shooting forward and letting go a blast of roaring fire through the curtains and into the inner chamber.

Zuko threw himself at Zhao, face bloodless in anger and fear, trying to stop the ex-Admiral, but the fire was already on its way and he was too late, too late.

Sokka stood up, leaping towards the burning curtains, yelling something Zuko couldn't hear but maybe it was Katara's name, over and over again.

A scream came from inside the burning room.

But it was a male scream, an octave lower than a female voice.

Zuko turned. Through the flickering remains of the curtain, he could see one of the blackened and burned doctors writhing in his death throes on the ground. The other doctors huddled in a corner, arms up to shield themselves from any further attacks.

Katara was on the bed, unharmed, as the dying doctor on the floor had taken the full brunt of the attack. She was pale and sweating, the sheets under her soaked with blood. She hadn't given birth yet.

Zuko turned to look at Sokka, at the expression on the other boy's face as he realized why exactly his sister was surrounded by doctors.

But Sokka wasn't looking at his sister. He was staring at Zhao, who was still on the ground from Zuko's attack.

"You—" Sokka could barely choke out the words through his blinding anger. "You tried to kill Katara!"

Zhao smiled, a hellish expression of evil and acknowledgement.

"I—I trusted you!" yelled the now full-enraged Water tribe boy. "You said you were on my side! You said you would help me rescue her!"

Zhao wheezed, still smiling. "Didn't you parents ever teach you not to trust strangers?"

With a cry of disbelief an anger, Sokka drew the blade from one of Zuko's swords on the ground next to him, and raising it high over his head, brought it down into the chest of Zhao, who was in the middle of trying to escape. The sword went into the struggling man with a sickly sound, and then the blood drained from Zhao's face and his dying eyes stared up at the ceiling. Blood foamed at the corner of his mouth.

Zuko stared at Sokka, who was panting, hands still wrapped around the handle of the sword. How many times had Zuko himself dreamed of doing the very same thing? Of killing his most hated enemy? Yet in the end, he hadn't been the one to do it. Oddly enough, he was okay with that.

Sokka didn't seem to register the fact that he'd just killed a man. Letting go of the stuck sword, he rushed through the remains of the divider until he reached his sister's side.

"Katara! Katara, are you alright?" He knelt, eyes staring imploringly into her face.

"Sokka—I thought I told you not to—not to come in," she gasped, breath hissing in and out of her chest.

"Zhao just tried to kill you! He tried to burn you!"

"I know, I know, is the—is the doctor okay?" She meant the doctor who'd been in the way of the fire meant for her.

Sokka didn't seem to hear her words. "I—I killed Zhao, Katara."

"What?"

"I killed him, Katara. For trying to kill you."

Her eyes, glazed over with pain, stared up into his face. "You what?"

Before he could answer, something seized her body, a contraction that had her screwing her eyes shut and shuddering, trying to ride it out. Blood dribbled from the corner of her mouth as she her lip in an effort not to cry out. The doctors began to whisper and surround her again, one of them taking Sokka gently by the arm to lead him away so the doctors could help her without distraction.

Finally, Sokka seemed to notice the swelling of her stomach and the blood staining her legs. His eyes widened in astonishment, then in realization as to her condition. He resisted the doctor's pull. "Katara!" he cried out. "Katara, why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you trust me?"

But she didn't register his words. She was in another world, a world filled only with blood and pain as her body was seized with another wave of shudders.

"Katara!" But the doctor lead him out. Sokka could see finally that his sister wasn't going to respond to his words, and the news that she was pregnant and actually in the middle of giving birth seemed to numb him to the point that he followed directions like a dumb animal.

Zuko watched as the doctor gently laid Sokka down outside, the other boy's eyes staring up at the night sky in a way that was much like Zhao's dead look. Lying their on the ground, the Fire Lord could see the Water tribe boy begin to cry, silent tears leaking from the corner of his eyes.

Zuko turned away, then strode back to the group of doctors, once again taking command.

"We have to move her to another tent; this one's coming down," he ordered. He was right, as the flames from Zhao's ill-conceived assassination attempt were still eating away at the cloth tent. "Pick up the cot—one of you on each side—and then come with me."

Before leaving, Zuko pulled aside a soldier. "Get somebody to clean up the dead body in there," he said, jerking a thumb at his tent. "And get all my stuff out, before the whole thing goes up in flames."

* * *

Huang and Sakai sputtered in indignation as a crowd of doctors bearing a bloody cot strode into their tent, commandeering the space. 

"What—what is _this_?" Huang said in anger. "We're not a hospital! Get out!"

The Fire Lord walked up until he was looking the older man in the eye. Huang almost shrank back from the simmering anger in his ruler's face.

"Zhao is dead," Zuko stated plainly.

The blood drained from Huang's face, and Sakai gasped behind him. "What—how—"

"He tried to kill _her_," Zuko inclined his head toward where Katara lay. "And her brother didn't take so well to the idea."

Huang was wringing his hands in desperation. "My Lord—my son and I never meant any harm—Zhao was obviously out of his mind—we were going to tell you tonight—we've been nothing but loyal and faithful to you—"

Zuko stared at them with an incomprehensible gaze. "Get out. Get out before I think of another reason to execute you both for treason."

Huang and Sakai both scurried outside.

Once they were far enough away from the tent, Huang shuddered. "To be truthful, I'm glad we left."

"Why?" Sakai asked. "They just took over our property!"

"Giving birth is a bloody business, son." Huang shook his head. "I wouldn't have wanted to stay and watch it."

"How do you know?"

"Common sense, idiot," Huang snapped. "And I've heard your mother whine about it one too many times. You were, apparently, an abnormally large baby."

* * *

She was surrounded by disembodied voices, probing hands, and a beating red wash that throbbed against her closed eyelids, rendering her head an aching mass of confusion. 

_I have a headache_, she thought before that unbelievable contracting pain seized her abdomen and caused her insides to twist in a silent scream.

_Not just a headache._

Katara opened her eyes to the sight of strange faces peering down at her. She was distinctly aware that she didn't know the name of a single one of them, but supposed that they were here to help her. Otherwise, Zuko would never have let them in. Strange, how, even after everything had happened, she still trusted him enough to protect her.

Her mind flashed back to her stilted conversation with Sokka. She'd been half-conscious at the time, unsure of anything. But if she remembered right, Sokka had told her he'd killed a man. Zhao, the one who'd tried to steal Zuko's throne and apparently had tried to kill her too. She didn't know what to think of it, as another contraction seized her abdomen. She was too tired to think about it.

"What—what happened to the doctor on fire?" she managed to squeeze out.

One of the doctors hovering over her looked uncertain before opening his mouth. "He was badly—he was injured, burnt, you understand—pretty bad—"

Then a second doctor cut the first off, saying, "He's doing fine. A few minor burns and blisters but he'll be alright."

The first doctor looked uncomfortable but nodded and then moved off, out of her line of sight.

Katara knew the second doctor had lied just to make her feel better. _How sweet of him_.

Another stranger came before her, leaning down with a concerned look on his face. "The Fire Lord wants to see you, madam. Do you feel well enough to talk to him?"

Katara wondered if she had the power to say no to the Fire Lord. She imagined what she would say. _I'm busy giving birth right now, could you hold on for just a second?_

The absurdity of it made her giggle out loud, which caused several of the doctors to look at her with shock and a bit of apprehension. Was the pain getting to her head?

But she just nodded and said, "Let him in."

In the next moment she felt a hand on her forehead and those burning gold eyes that had frightened her so much at the beginning but were now looking at he in worry and concern and was that love she saw?

"How are you doing?" he said.

She wanted to laugh again. Was this a bad sign? Laughing in the middle of childbirth? It must be a bad sign. "How do I look?"

"Bloody."

She sobered. "That's—that's not so good, is it?"

A shake of the head above her.

She tried to smile, really, she tried. "I'm sorry we fought."

His hand stilled. "I'm sorry too."

Another choked laugh. "We sound so pathetic."

A nod.

Was she crying? She felt something wet on her face. Maybe it was Zuko's tears, mixed with her own. "I'm sorry about—" her breath hitched from another seizing pain, "—about the Avatar. I know you won't forgive me but I'm s-sorry I had to do it." _I'm sorry there was something more important to me than you._

"I'm sorry I lied," he whispered, coming in closer, his scarred cheek brushing her tear-stained face. He knew he had to finish this up soon; her eyes were beginning to glaze and lose focus, the pain taking her far away from him to a place he could not follow. "I'm sorry we couldn't have a happy ending."

A choked gasp escaped through her chapped lips and she let out a cry of anguish, her body straining to push and let go.

A doctor's quiet murmurings and gentle push at his arm pulled Zuko away. He turned, entire body tense and shaking before striding out of that tent, away from his love and away from everything his life could have been.

* * *

She hadn't thought it was possible to feel so much pain at one time. Had all the mothers of the world experienced this before her? Majin, her own mother, and countless other women? 

_How did they survive?_ She thought, hands gripping blindly at the sheets. _Because I don't think I'm going to._

Zuko had been here awhile ago. She didn't know if he'd left or if he was still here somewhere. The faces of the doctors above her were mere blurs, gentle hands patting her slick brow or lifting her had to swallow water. Ah, that cool, soothing liquid slipped down her throat and she begged it silently to douse the fire raging inside her.

Another vise gripped her stomach, almost causing her to arch off the bed in reaction. Then, with less than a minute of relief, it came again, her limbs locking with the strain. Her mouth was open—was she screaming? She couldn't hear herself, much less the frenzied scrambling of the doctors around her as they began to realize what was happening.

All of a sudden, this was it, the utter mindlessness of the red hot heat and the squirm of life inside, the last final _WRENCH_ and it was done she was free and off the ground and disconnected from life.

Distantly, past the drumming in her ears, she could hear the wet thunder, the drip-plash of droplets impacting on the tent, the rich smell of water and life permeating the air.

_It's raining._

* * *

Zuko had heard one final wail from her before she'd fallen silent inside the tent. Then the quiet was replaced by the harsh squalling of a child. Zuko waited. It was all he could do right now. He couldn't talk or move or yell or cry. He stood outside in the storm, water seeping into his armor and his clothes and his very skin until he couldn't escape it. 

After a million years, one doctor came outside. Red was splattered over his white shirt, Zuko noticed dimly. The expression on the doctor's face was one of… shock?

"It's a boy," said the doctor, who then looked like he wanted to say something more, but stopped.

Zuko continued to wait patiently. The entire world seemed to have slowed down for him. Even the raindrops fell slower, hitting his face before sliding off his chin and onto his shirt, dribbling through the cloth until the cold touched his skin.

The doctor swallowed, seeing Zuko's obvious anticipation. "There—there were difficulties. You understand—the child was more than a month early—not good—added to the injury she received that caused her to go into premature labor. The child is fine—she is, is not so—so good." The doctor continued to choke out the words. "You have a few—a few minutes."

Zuko walked inside, droplets clinging to every part of him that was exposed to the elements.

_It's raining.

* * *

_

Sokka noticed the wet splattering that turned the dirt under his feet into sticky, grimy mud. He noticed it turning the dawning sky into a gloomy, dark gray. He noticed it sliding down his face, mixing with the tears he thought he'd stopped crying.

Then he saw Zuko. There he was, the Fire Lord, standing outside a tent, staring down at a bundle of something in his arms.

Sokka's heart skipped a beat as he began to run, faster and faster until he could see the color of the thing wrapped in blankets and held in Zuko's arms.

The Fire Lord looked up as Sokka neared, an emotionless look on his face.

"Is it—is it—" Sokka could barely get the words out.

Zuko held out the baby silently for Sokka to take.

Sokka, with more care than he could have ever thought possible, took the warm package and cradled it to his own chest. Then he looked down, and almost dropped the child.

The baby's face was all cream-colored new skin, soft to the touch. Except for one thing. An angry red birthmark that started at the inner corner of one half-closed eye, seeping across the brow and the cheek until it ended on the side of his face.

"How—?" Sokka started, mouth going dry. This was impossible.

Zuko shrugged, almost nonchalantly. "I don't understand it."

"Scars aren't—scars aren't genetic."

"It was a hard birth. There were complications. She fell before, hit the desk, which made her go into labor early. Anything could have happened to make it." The Fire Lord's face was a mask of stone.

Sokka didn't like the mechanical way Zuko spoke about Katara. "Where is she? Is she doing alright? Has she seen the baby yet? Has she named him?"

"She's dead."

A wet raindrop splashed onto the baby's scarred face, making him whimper in discomfort. When his bearer didn't move to reassure him, the child began to cry in earnest, the loud wailing that every baby's lungs puts forth. _Pay attention to me! I'm wet and cold!_

Sokka's sightless eyes just stared over the movements of the fussing child, unseeing and uncaring.

_It's raining_

_-_

_-

* * *

_

Lyrics from Sarah McLachlan, "Fallen"  



	24. Epilogue

**Epilogue**_  
_

_One year later_

Before he left the Fire Nation for good, Sokka had talked one last time with his the father of his newborn nephew.

"I'm leaving," he stated, standing before the slightly charred desk of the Fire Lord.

Zuko looked up at him, a face so pale and emotionless it could have been carved from marble.

"I'm going to Kyoshi Island." Sokka continued. "Don't follow me. I don't ever want to see you again. We have nothing in common. The only person who ever gave us a true connection is now dead, and after this, I will try as hard as I can to forget you."

Zuko nodded, the barest of movements.

"I don't know what you're going to do now. If you're going to raise the child as royalty or pass him off as a bastard, I don't care."

Zuko said nothing.

"I hope you know that Aang will come back and he will defeat you. Be prepared, because the Avatar won't be happy to hear about the death of his best friend."

"The Avatar is dead."

Sokka's hand trembled. Had he heard right? "W-what?"

"When my search parties went out to find him, a mistake was made and an arrow ended his life."

Sokka struggled, struggled to keep it in, to hold everything in and not show one ounce of weakness to this evil fucker who'd completely destroyed his life.

"I'm still going to Kyoshi. Don't—don't follow me. I don't ever want to—"

"I don't want to see you again either." The Fire Lord said. "Don't worry about me."

Sokka lost it and snarled. "I wasn't going to!"

Then he turned and left, leaving every single part of his old life behind. Katara was gone, Aang was gone. What was there left in the world for him?

He was going to Kyoshi Island.

* * *

Two years later, with his own child on the way, Sokka learned that the Fire Lord had wiped out every single citizen of both the Northern and Southern Water Tribes. 

His wife was worried for him. "What if they learn you're here? Will they come and try to kill you?"

He shook his head no.

Suki persisted. "Are you sure?"

Sokka nodded. "The Fire Lord won't come after me. Don't worry about it."

By the time his second child was born, the newly instated Fire Empire ruled the world. They held control over ever kingdom, tribe, and village on earth. They had been to every city, every town, every habitable piece of land.

The citizens of Kyoshi Island waited with growing despair for their turn.

But the metal-hulled ships of the Fire Empire never came.

Kyoshi Island gradually grew comfortable with the idea that the Fire Empire didn't see them as a real threat. As long as they were left in peace, the Island people were happy.

Sokka lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling of his house, listening to the joyful laughter of his wife and his children. It was a beautiful sunny day, not a single cloud in the sky. He could still hear the raindrops pattering above his head and leaking through the roof until one by one, they hit his face and ran down his neck and into his heart.

_I miss you so much_.

-

-

-

End

* * *

Decided to do an Epilogue, which means two chapters in one day for the end of this story. Thought it would be better. 

It's August 29, exactly one month after I last updated this fic on July 29. Writer's Block takes it's toll. Some of you were really supportive and wonderful. Some of you were rude and fucking assholes. Guess what? Writers are human. We have feelings, most of which we try to communicate through writing.

Love Thy Enemy takes place a hundred years later and about three or four generations after THATP. Read now.

I had fun, guys. Hopefully you did too. This was one very weird journey, writing my first fanfiction. When all is said and done, I'm very glad it's over with. Yet I'm still sad. Lots of things didn't go as I expected. These last two chapter (including the epilogue) did not go the way I had envisioned it in my head when I began writing. It was very, very unexpected.

This last chapter is dedicated to all of you. Yes, you, the one who is reading this message right this instant. Please review and tell me everything you think, everything you want to tell me about how you've read this fic and what you think and whether you want to kill me or whether you actually liked the ending. I'm not the only who's been living this story.


End file.
